


Lightforge: Requiem

by Insolentknight



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/F, F/M, Magic, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-08-24 22:49:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16649344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insolentknight/pseuds/Insolentknight
Summary: Pre-Lightforge AU. For decades, the Branwen's have loyally served the White Fang. When information is discovered that the Schnee are developing a new weapon against Freaks of all natures, Faunus twins Raven and Qrow are sent to investigate. Fate, however, has differing plans when Raven befriends Summer Rose, an elusive girl with strange powers and an equally elusive family history.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> AN: So here’s that prequel I mentioned that for Lightforge. For new readers, this follows the Lightforge AU that I’ve created. If you go to my profile, you can find the original. For Lightforge readers, Requiem will follow the story of STRQ, mostly through Raven’s eyes. I do intend for this to have a more romance feel than Lightforge does and it does feel bittersweet at times, especially for those who have read Lightforge. You guys are already aware of the Team STRQ’s fate. While Lightforge will discuss what happens to them, Requiem will go into more detail. It will also give a better explanation of some things that are going on in the world that directly affects the girls Lightforge. Last but not least, while this is technically a PolyParents thing, it mostly focuses on Rosebird. Anyway, enjoy! You guys get the prologue and Chapter 1 today!

 

_I’m a monster… Or so I’ve always been told. We’re filthy creatures that were kept in secret for ages, but unlike so many others, we chose to walk among the humans. My brother says that my pride will cost me everything, but what is there for me to lose? The clan is the only thing that comes before that part of me and I will not clip my treasured wings as readily as he will._

Standing on the ledge of the tallest, she never felt as alive as when she basked under the moon’s light. The night wind rustled her hair, freeing a frayed feather from her locks. The lone pinion danced past her crimson eyes and she caught it, letting her lips curve with elation. While others found discomfort in molting, she felt a deep sense of pride toward her lineage and she bore the pristine dark feathers and piercing red eyes her family was known for.

Clad in a crimson and black kimono, it would be Raven who would lead her people into the world they so rightfully deserved, and those damn hunters would fall beneath her power. She would be feared and her little brother, even if it was by only five minutes, would have to eat his words. For 12 years, he had maintained that her desires not pointless, but he would regret the love he had for the humans that cast them out. As a twin, he truly contrasted to her in all the ways that mattered most… but his existence would always be included in her dream. He was her other half – the one that kept her grounded.

Turning around, she leaned off the edge and plunged toward the city streets. It was such a rush, feeling the cool wind whipping through her hair. The sound was almost static, letting go of any thoughts that lingered from her days. As much as it was an addiction, it was an escape that provided a much needed release she couldn’t find anywhere else, nor would she try. Spreading her arms, she closed her eyes to bask in the currents of air as they washed against her skin… Just a moment more and she would be ready… But suddenly, the rush of wind came to a stop.

Opening her eyes slowly, she found herself frozen in mid-air. The world has been washed of color, like an old still frame and everything was just as rigid. She attempted to move, but her body met her with complete resistance. It was like waking from a bad dream, but her body was still asleep… except she was stuck in mid-air. The pale adolescent shifted her eyes to the fingertips of her right hand, but it was another kind of movement that attracted her sights.

In this frozen otherworld of grayscale colors, there was only one thing with any color. An equally pale figure cloaked in white ascended toward her. As she was taken their arms, a splash of red hair billowed from within the confines of the hood. As they touched her, they resumed their fall and the world returned to its previous state of moody colors.

“Hey!” It was a young girl’s voice. “Be careful! You could have died!”

“Get your hands off me!” Raven kicked her legs out, causing the stranger in white to lose their balance and ultimately drop her.

Expecting to hit the ground immediately, Raven found that the fall was a much further drop than she anticipated. Evidently, her so-called hero had chosen to land on a lamp pole. After dropping her, the strange had latched onto the pole in an attempt at self-preservation and let Raven plummet the rest of the way.

“Ow!”

“Oh my God!” In show of athleticism, the stranger dropped from the pole. Latching on to the lamp, she used her weight to swing herself around and shifted herself to the pole, spinning as she slid her way down the post in what Raven deemed to be showing off. The acrobat ran over to Raven, taking one of her hands in her own. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t touch me!” Who the hell did this kid think they were?! Maybe if she glared at them hard enough, they’d get the hint… and that is just what Raven did, but she was met with something surprising.

The way they glinted in the moonlight… This little human’s eyes… They glowed with an ethereal silver that reflected her own equally bright red orbs, and in that moment, she was faced with the knowledge that these eyes would haunt her every waking moment. The girl smiled at her in a way that no human ever had… but weren’t they supposed to hate her kind?… Was she able to tell? As if to answer her thoughts, the wind rustled the feathers of her crown… Of course, she knew.

“It isn’t safe to be out here.” Any of the girl’s distinctive features remained hidden beneath her hood as she reached out to her. When Raven flinched, the girl hesitated and waited for even the slightest form of acknowledgement, and it came from a barely noticeable softening of Raven’s eyes. “Woooooow, they’re so pretty!” The girl lightly touched the tip of one of the rich, black feathers hidden throughout her equally dark tresses. Opposed to the color scheme of her previous plumage, it was a shock to see that this girl picked it out so easily. Normally, she would have slapped the girl’s hand away, but those eyes lured her into sense mutual trust… So she relaxed and let her touch them further.

“Summer!” A voice called out a name and Raven’s eyes widened as the girl looked behind her in response. Not more humans! Surely they would try to harm her. At her current age and skill, she wasn’t prepared to face possible hunters. “Summer, where are you?” So that was this girl’s name. Raven took one last look at the girl in white and burned the image into her mind before she quietly fled.

“Over here,” Summer called out. Flashlight beams danced around as their owners ran towards her voice.

“What were you doing, child?” A man ran up to her with a young blonde boy.

 “I made a new friend! See!” She turned to show them the girl, but she had vanished.

“Child, don’t run off!” The older man scolded her. “You nearly scared us to death! Just think of the consequences if you should die! Perish the thought!”

“But I’m serious! There was a girl that fell off that building!” Summer threw her hands down in emphasis. “And I saved her.”

“Riiiiiight,” the little boy crossed his arm behind her. “We can play Heroes and Hunters later.”

“I’m not lying, Tai!” Summer crossed her arms and pouted, looking at the buildings they passed as she followed them. They came upon an alleyway lined with trashcans and a curious sight for her. Small birds picked at the trash – many that she had seen throughout the city - but what caught her eye was a large black bird with red eyes that followed her curiously. It tapped its toes on the aluminum trash can with an almost human-like gesture.

 _Uuuroooooork!_ It called out to her before it flapped its wings and took off for the sky. Summer giggled to herself, never taking her eyes off the bird as it circled around high above them. It must have been so wonderful to be free to roam the skies like that. The bird continued to follow them all the way back to their home, perching itself on a nearby post. Summer ran up to it excitedly, but the bird on cocked its head curiously at her.

“Summer, get away from that buzzard!” A buzzard?! She wasn’t a buzzard! “Damn scavengers just sit there waiting for scraps. Shoo shoo!” Heart beating against her chest, she flapped her wings violently as the man tried to grab her.

“Stop! Get out of here, birdie!” Summer dove into the man’s waist, jerking him away from the bird and giving it time to flee.

_Smack!_

The bird looked back in enough time to see the man strike this strange human girl and landed in a nearby tree. He yelled at her until the blonde boy came to her rescue, taking the next blow he delivered. Irritated, the man stormed away and it looked like Summer was crying into the boy’s arms… Maybe there were some good humans out there, but surely; age and more punishment would teach that strange girl that Raven was the sort of monster that needed hunting… After all, that’s exactly where Raven was firmly perched in the food chain.

 


	2. Troublesome Little Birdie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Alright! Gonna’ start you guys off with our wonderful bird twins! They are quite the lovely duo and contrast each other very nicely. Most people tend to choose to portray Summer as a much sweeter version of Ruby, but the Lightforge AU is rather dark. That’s not to say that she doesn’t still have her sweet moments. There are plenty of those – she just has a bit more of a dominant, badass personality. She’s meant to be a personality that gives Raven a run for her money. Tai is… well, Tai is pretty much a gooby big brother perv type.

 

“So, tell me again why it is that we have to infiltrate Beacon, of all places.” Sometimes, her brother asked too many questions. She watched him in distaste as he plucked a feather from his hair, gagging as he cast it aside… How could he be so heartless toward his plumage? “Y’know, if you walk around like that, we’ll stick out.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re not exactly a common type of Faunus, Raven,” he rolled his eyes at her. “You might want to hide them.”

“Why on Earth would I do that?!” She spat as she smacked him hard. “My feathers are something that I **am** actually proud of!” It seriously blew her mind that he could take what made them special for granted in such a way. She muttered a few curses to herself, now that he had fouled her mood. “As you know, the Branwen tribe is fiercely loyal to the White Fang. Lord Ghira and the Lady Kali have fought so hard for Faunus acceptance, but peaceful demonstrations will not get us very far. We have the means to protect Faunus communities, but further action requires our particular skill set - infiltration. We’ve fought so hard to be recognized, and in just the last 50 years, we’ve been able to walk out in society, rather than being hidden away by the Schnee. Sadly, there are those weaklings that still serve them so ignorantly.”

“Yeah, so why are we going to Beacon?” Qrow scratched his head. “It’s a feeder school that’s gonna’ put us in with the Schnee. That makes us _those weaklings_ you’re talking about.”

“No,” Raven said in irritation. “We’re gathering information. Ghira has received reports that the Schnee have begun research on a new weapon that could have drastic consequences, even for Faunus. It’s our job to learn whatever we can.”

“Ah.” There was a disappointed quality to his voice. “I see.” Most of the White Fang didn’t understand the favoritism that the Branwen family had gained, but the reality was that they were among the most loyal and excelled at spying. Their unique ability to shape shift at will granted them discretion unlike many others, but there was a catch. Removing their feathers meant that the ability was lost to them until they grew back in. It was essentially clipping their wings… Just like Qrow had done to himself so he could “fit in”. This made him completely useless for this task.

Often, her twin was assigned to anything she was, despite his lack of devotion to the White Fang cause. Many times this had been the cause for an uproar, when far more loyal persons should have been assigned, but Ghira’s reasoning was that what Qrow lacked toward the Fang, he easily made up for in his loyalty to his sister, and the White Fang’s leader was a family man at heart. Unfortunately, he was right though. As annoying as Qrow was, there was no one else she would rather have her back. They were twins. No matter their difference of opinion, they would always just be in sync.

They approached the gate to the Beacon schoolyard and stood in awe of the building. This was to be their home for the next few years and they would be in enemy territory. They would have to become one of them, which Qrow was more than fine with. If Raven had to be honest, this was probably the first time he had been excited about a mission and he seemed star struck. On the other hand, Raven could already feel the stares of fellow students and some of their whispers. That’s right. There weren’t very many Faunus in the school yet, but the headmaster saw great promise in them… If only he knew how wrong he was.

“Raven!!! Look at this!” He had run ahead of her and was standing in awe of a fountain in the center of the yard. “I know it’s not your thing, but just try to enjoy something with me.”

Raven’s eyes scanned across the crowd as she half-listened to him ramble on about whatever human thing he was so passionate about, but something else had caught her eye. For the briefest moment, she thought that she had caught a familiar glimpse of silver. Scanning the crowd, she found nothing that even closely resembled those eyes that haunted her dreams.

From the moment they had passed the gate, she felt eyes on her, but of course there were. She was a Faunus that proudly displayed her features. She was bound to catch people’s attention, but not like this. The gaze she felt was observant and strangely sympathetic. She pressed her fingers to her sinuses and sighed. What a time to be thinking about this sort of thing… Even if she happened to be here, it had been five years. That girl wouldn’t remember her, let alone known that she had followed her home…

Now that she thought about it, curiosity had gotten the better of her a year ago. She stopped by the small home she remembered the girl lived at, but an entirely new family lived there; most notably, a rather solid young man with a square jaw and a taste for firearms. James, she thought they called him? The little shit had taken to using birds as target practice and chose the wrong one that day. Either way, she had wanted to see how accurate her assumptions about the girl’s future were, but her whereabouts were lost to her.

“Human architecture is so amazing!” Qrow was continuing whatever recitation about human-developed things and she really didn’t care for it.

“Qrow,” Raven quirked a brow and set her hands on her hips. “You do know that we’re just as capable of this as them, right?”

“Raven,” Qrow matched her mannerisms. “You do know that Faunus are just humans with benefits, right?”

“Are you mocking me?!”

“Yes.”

“You don’t even have the decency to try to hide it!” Her brother shrugged and gave her the ugliest smile he could think of at that time.

“Wouldn’t be your twin if I did.”

“Shove it up your-“

“Well, well, well.” A cocky presence approached them, spelling trouble for the twins through the snide tone of his voice. “What do we have here? A filthy Faunus and a… human lover?!”

“Hey,  I’m- blerrrrgh.“

“What’s it to you?” The feathered twin glared as she sized him up. Yeah, he was douche material – a real grade A chump. “He’s free to choose what company he likes.”

“Yeah, it’s just the **wrong** kind.” A few other boys started to surround them and he made an off-handed comment to his fellowship. “See that guys, you give ‘em an inch and they take a mile. Already thinks she can walk all over him. Anyone else share my opinion when I say our friend here deserves justice?” They all cheered and a larger crowd began to grow around them. It was sickening just how cruel humans could be. All this was doing was proving her right and what little remained of the hope she held for that girl waned with each passing moment. Humans had no place in the Faunus world the White Fang would create.

Displeased by her lack of reaction toward his jeering, the douche grabbed Raven by the wrist and pulled her forward, turning her around. She was in need of some punishment. You know, to show her her place. From behind, he could see the distinguishing feathers of her tribe and sneered at them, pulling hard until a few came out and her world went white with pain. “What’s this shit?”

“Stop!” Qrow lunged at him, but the guy just pushed him into his buddies who forced him to the ground to watch as he tormented his sister. Qrow struggled harder, but was pulled harder and a knee was planted into his back. Anything but her feathers! He watched as this monster crumpled them in his hand and tossed them away… They may have been trash to him, but to her, they were her treasure...

“Qrow!” He jolted at her commanding tone. “Don’t.” A look in her eye said that even through the pain, she would be fine and could take whatever he would dish out… but Qrow was so tired of this. She was the brave one and he was the coward. Even now, she was maintaining the belief that he was human so that only one of them would get this treatment. Maybe it was his innocent beliefs that were the last strand of hope she may ever hold toward humanity, but even that was wearing thin these days.

“That’s right,” he threw her to the ground and stepped on her chest. “This is where you belong.” With a loud cough, she wind was knocked from her chest and the pressure from his foot wouldn’t allow her chest to expand to bring in any air. How could all these people just stand there and watch this happen?! Her eyes caught Qrow’s and she felt horrible that he had to watch this. If they had been anywhere else, she knew she would have retaliated in a heartbeat, but that wasn’t a luxury they could afford.

The lack of air was finally starting to catch up with her and she could feel her body preparing to shut down from the oxygen deprivation. Darkness had already begun to crackle around her vision, leaving a small area of view. The foot lifted from her and came down back hard, but in that moment, the world was washed in familiar achromatic tones. White petals fluttered in front of her, sort of like a precursor to the main event.

A hooded figure appeared in front of her, unclasping the cape and let it to the air, where it stayed motionlessly. The figure, she now recognized as a female shape, turned to look at her and leaned down with a warm smile, though her eyes were hidden by her bangs. Raven wanted to get away, but as it was, she was part of this frozen world. The girl touched her and life seemed to breathe into her body, though when she looked around, she felt a pang of guilt at the horror etched across her brother’s face.

“Such a troublesome little birdie you turned out to be,” the girl spoke in an amused voice as she picked Raven up. With a step, the world around them glitched and they were suddenly in the branches of the thickest tree in the courtyard. The color returned to the world and a blonde boy barreled through the crowd, liberating Qrow of the ones holding him down. Lifting one high above his head, he threw him across the crowd into the fight’s instigator.

“A shit, it’s Tai and Summer. Let’s get outta’ here!” The bully recognized the snow white cape as it fluttered to the ground in front of him. “Freaks of a feather flock together! It fucking figures you’re Faunus lovers, too!” Raven wasn’t too sure what happened after that because the world went cold and she passed out in that girl’s arms. The last thing she remembered were soft words whispered to her.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe with me, no matter who you are.”

… and those silver eyes…

**ooOOoo**

“I see.” A door creaked open and a male voice broke the silence. “I’ve taken the liberty of placing Mr. Winchester on a supervised suspension. He will be required to complete a Faunus Sensitivity Training Course before we will **consider** his return. I am very sorry to hear that this happened to your sister, Mr. Branwen.”

“S-sure…” Qrow sounded so sad. It was rare to say that something broke her heart, but being twins, the feelings were amplified. “Is she gonna’ be okay?”

“Yes,” the man’s soothing voice chuckled. “She should be waking up any moment. You two are very lucky that Summer and Tai showed up when they did.” First names??? That was odd, considering the teachers of Beacon were known to treat students militaristically.

“Pssssh, it was nothing!” Oh no… Raven’s eyes opened wide at the voice and she suddenly shot up, staring at a girl with short black hair, dyed red at the ends, and a pure white hooded cloak. What the hell was she doing here?! “Oh, hai!” The girl faced Raven perfectly as if she could see the Faunus through her tightly shut eyes. Summer, as she assumed her name was, wiggled her fingers in a wave, wearing what had to have been the mostly inhumanly possible smile she had ever seen… but there was something fake about it. She just couldn’t tell what part. If she was the same girl, something had drastically changed about it… Shit, what did she mean _if_ … That power she used was exactly the same. What were the chances two people wore the same outfit **and** had the same power?

“Raven!” Qrow jumped onto her and she hissed in pain as he hugged her around her waist. “I was so worried when you didn’t wake up! You normally bounce back so fast! Why didn’t you let me help you?” Raven frowned and flicked him in the head.

“They would have hurt you too, idiot.” Aaaand, there was that hurt look in his eyes. She knew he hated it every time she protected him. He was a little old school and thought that he should have been doing the protecting when it came to her, but at least he held enough regard for her that he listened when she gave orders – even if they came in the form of a simple glance… Speaking of eyes, Raven rubbed the back of Qrow’s head and looked at the girl who had come to their rescue. “I suppose I should thank you.”

“No problemo!” Ugh, even her answers were drenched with that fake happiness. “Anything for a friend!”

“No offense,” Raven glared at her. “But we’re not friends.”

“Oh, how sad.” Even pouting, that smile didn’t leave her face, but she did slowly open her eyes. With the revelation of the silver orbs, Raven felt her breath catch. It was too coincidental. This had to be her. In all the years Raven had roamed, she had never once run into another person with silver eyes, let alone ones that commanded the same presence and also belonged to a savior-type cloaked in white… Hadn’t a blonde boy also been calling that name? Summer’s smile changed to a grin as she made a decision for herself. “But we will be.”

“What?”

“Oh, hey!” The door slid open and shut once more, this time introducing the boy known as Tai. “You’re awake, beautiful! I was getting tired of staring at your boyfriend! I, myself, prefer the…” He giggled lecherously and made motions to emulated a woman’s curves. “…softer features… of a woman! My name’s Taiyang!” The scraggly blonde held out a hand and Raven stared at in detest. Before she could do anything, Summer slapped his hand away.

“I don’t think she wants to be touched by a pervert,” Summer puffed her cheeks out like a chipmunk and tackled him, playfully climbing up his torso and hand standing on his shoulder. With expert control over her core strength, she came eye-to-eye with him and went over his head to his back, wrapping her legs around his waist to anchor herself. “You’re super gross!”

“Ah, stop being such a runt!” He complained with a muffled voice due to the white cape draped over his face. He tried his hardest to reach behind himself to grab her, but she was latched on too tightly. “Oh, c’mon Summer! This isn’t fair! You always do this!”

“Well, you always fall for this! I will Saibaman the crap out of you!!!” They could virtually hear her sticking her tongue out as she spoke in an exaggerated voice. “Be smarter and I’ll change tactics!”

“Settle down now, children.” The energetic duo actually heeded the teacher’s orders and Summer shifted to sitting on Tai’s broad shoulders, leaning onto his head. Despite their informal posture, they looked at him as if they were awaiting order. The man turned to face the twins and smiled genuinely. “I am Headmaster Oscar Pine. On behalf of the school, I would like to apologize for your treatment. Unfortunately, the two of you did miss the Introductory Ceremony, but I am sure that your assigned partners will be more than willing to accommodate to your needs, as they know this school like the back of their hands.”

“Aw, you flatter us,” Tai said fondly.

“Nonsense,” the headmaster shook his head. “You’ve both virtually lived here your entire lives…”He ran a finger across the counter, frowning at a line he made in a thin coating of dust. “And I give credit where it is due, and the two of you are among our brightest pupils.”

“If you ask the Schnee, we’re **the** brightest…” There it was – what Raven was looking for – a small slip up in that happy persona. Everyone had a piece of themselves they wanted to hide, and that included Raven. Qrow’s was his Faunus nature, but what was it for these two – more specifically Summer?

“What was that Miss Rose?” The headmaster asked with deceitful smile. “I couldn’t hear you you.”

“Hmmm?” Summer blinked cluelessly, as if she hadn’t the faintest idea a sound passed her lips. It was just a glimpse, but for a moment, that obliviously cheerful façade briefly faltered.

“If you wouldn’t mind showing them to your assigned dorm, once Miss Branwen has been cleared to leave,” the headmaster suggested. “I would greatly appreciate it.” He looked at the twins. “Your teammates have already moved your things to your room.”

“We figured we’d wait to choose beds and stuff ‘til you guys were ready,” Tai said, grounding Summer as she lost her balance. “We figured it’d only be fair to wait.” No way were they as good of people as they were playing right now. They had to be up to something.

“Now that you are aware of your team members, I do feel that it is also necessary to inform you of a couple other things in regard to this,” the headmaster smiled. “From this day forward, you will be known at Team STRQ. Details regarding you team and individual members will be posted under this name. While I have assigned you based on your individual talents and personalities, you have been assigned one partner in particular.” The headmaster cleared his throat before continuing.

“For your team, you have been divided into balanced partnerships.” Why did Raven have a bad feeling about this? Her eyes met with Summer’s and that smile faltered into something else… It was the same expression, but what was it that changed?... “The first partnership is Miss Summer Rose and Miss Raven Branwen,” Raven’s heart sank. Not only did she have to share a room with her, but now she had to spend every waking moment of her day with her. “And the second half will be Mr. Taiyang Xiao Long and Mr. Qrow Branwen. I have also designated Miss Rose as this team’s leader. It is my hope that you will all prove yourselves worthy to protect those in need when the time comes. I now will bid you all a good day! If you are ever in need of anything, feel free to see me. My office will always be open to Team STRQ.” Just Team STRQ? Or was he just saying that as a formality? The headmaster left as swiftly as he arrived, leaving Raven to wonder if the man had lost his mind with his choices. These two were beyond silly.

“Aw, man!” Tai snapped his fingers and looked up at her. “How do you get it every time?”

“Cuz I’m not a total pleb.” Oh joy, she got a cocky partner… Not that she couldn’t be cocky herself. There was just only room for one cocky member on their team and it was her job.

“Hey!” Summer hoped down from his shoulder, sliding her hand across his back as she walked past him and he smiled at the touch. Raven tilted her head at the subtle affection, though the eyes didn’t match the suggestion. As Summer came closer, their eyes met once more and that smiled flipped its switch again.

“By the way, Tai,” Summer closed her eyes and wait for him to hum in response. She opened them and the expression become hollow and irritated. She pointed at the two siblings and spoke. “They’re siblings. If you couldn’t tell by looking them, they share a last name.”

“Oh, isn’t it like, incest to date your brother?” Tai laughed. “So weir-pleeergh!” Summer smacked him across the room.

“This!” Oh, another interesting shift in dynamic? “ **This** is why you don’t get picked!”

“Ow! That actually hurt this time!” Tai shrieked. “You never hit me that hard! I was kidding! I can see their Forge too! You know this!” Wait, they could see Forge?! Who were these two?... They must have been found out and the headmaster split them up and assigned them to the worst partners they possibly have. “Seriously though, sharing a last name doesn’t mean siblings,” Tai shrugged. “They coulda’ been married or something.”

“God, you are annoying, Tai,” Summer wiped her hand across her face. “I’m pretty sure they aren’t married this young.”

“Well, we-“ Summer kicked him this time in a genuine rage. It looked like that was a sensitive subject. We’re they married or maybe arranged for the future? Whatever the problem, Summer was treating the idea with great disdain.

“Do not,” Summer growled, holding herself protectively. “Ever bring that up in front of **anyone**.” Yep, she was definitely sore subject and she extremely insecure about it.

“Look, Sum,” he got up slowly and whispered to her. Unfortunately, it seemed he didn’t realize that Faunus had sensitive hearing. “I’m sorry, but you can’t keep blaming me for something the Schnee are doing… Besides, you’re always gonna’ be my lil’ sis, y’know?” He ruffled her hair and she relaxed. So they were siblings that have different last names and they were somehow connected to the Schnee? That was unusual… Unusual, but possibly useful for the future…

“I guess.”

“Hey, sis,” Qrow leaned into whispering range. “I think you met your match in the bad mood department… and here I was thinking she was all sweet and everything. That sure changed once that Oscar guy left.” Summer turned to face Raven and the emptiness in her eyes changed again.

Ah, she knew what it was now. It was the eyes, not the smile. This entire time those silver eyes had been so hollow, but every time they locked onto Raven, they became as genuine as her altercation with blonde bafoon. What was the figure of speech? Ah, she knew what it was. This must have been what they meant when someone smiles through their eyes.

**ooOOoo**

“Soooo, which beds do you guys want?” Tai asked with a friendly gesture. He honestly really didn’t care where he slept, as long as it was a bed. The twins looked between themselves, unsure of what to do. Either way, they were in a bed in the same room.

“Well,” Qrow tapped his foot as he thought. “Where does Rose want to sleep?”

“Me?” Summer pointed at herself cluelessly and then developed a mischievous smirk. “The bed in the corner.” Raven smirked with a small amount of amusement as Qrow looked to see which one she meant and floored at the layout of the room. All of the beds were placed in corners to maximize the amount of room it had to offer.

“Oh, ha ha,” Qrow grumbled to himself. “Everyone has a sense of humor here.”

“Everyone but you,” Raven kept her smirk as she walked passed Qrow, tossing her duffel bag onto the bed furthest from the door, to the left. It provided a clear vantage point of the door, which meant she would always be the first to see every occasion regarding the entrance to their room. “I guess this one’s mine.”

“Oh, good,” Summer hopped onto the bed across from the foot of Raven’s, spun herself on one foot, and collapsed backward onto her bed. “Dibs!”

“I guess this one is mine,” Qrow chose the bed diagonally across from Raven’s. If she had chosen the door vantage point, then he would cover the window. Either way, if an intruder entered through either, they would only see one, while the other would take a moment to locate. By that time, the other would have easily dispatched them already.

With only one bed remaining, Tai casually walked over and gently laid his bag down, but there was something a little strange. All of them had a bag… except for Summer. The twins looked at each other, wondering which was going to ask about this. Maybe Summer was just really poor, though she did have a really expensive looking smart phone. Then again, some people chose to live outside their means, while those like the twins chose more budget-friendly devices.

“Uh, Rose,” Qrow decided to be the one and Raven gave him a relieved look. “Where’s your stuff?” A small congratulatory sound came from the crimson-coalette’s phone and she pumped a fist to herself, proud of whatever useless achievement she just unlocked. Without looking over at Qrow,  Summer shifted herself and reached under the bed, releasing a drawer compartment beneath the bed. It extended out, revealing a very well organized locker. Everything from books, to a few changes of clothes, sorted toiletries, and other supplies were neatly tucked in a borderline OCD fashion to maximize the space to the fullest. Wait… she had already picked her bed ahead of time…

“By the way,” Summer said, still not looking away from her phones. “You guys can call me by my first name. I don’t mind.”

“Same here,” Tai smiled as he began to roll his socks into a tight bun-like shape. His drawer was beginning to mirror their team leader’s, but the process looked so damn tedious.

“Ah!” Summer sat up with wide eyes and spun herself from the bed to a sitting position in front of her drawer. Moving a few things around, she picked up two strange looking items and pushed her drawer back in. “Tai. Here!” She tossed one to him and he caught it, knowing what it was. She pressed something on the strange item and it responded with a computerized voice.

“Syncing, please pair with a mobile device!” A few clicks came across her phone and it spoke once more.  
“Pairing complete. Device is armed. Please place device in place of intended use!” Setting it at the bottom of her drawer, Summer closed it and hopped back on her bed cheerfully… Earlier, Raven had thought so, but now he shared the belief that there was something suspicious about the strange teens they had been assigned to…

“What’s that?” Qrow asked, feigning innocent curiosity. “Do we get them too?”

“Hmmm? Oh, sorry Qrow,” Summer winked an eye and put her right hand straight up in front of her nose in an apologetic manner. “Tai and I brought these from home. They’re short-range disruption devices. The compartments under the bed use electricity to open and these essentially turn them into lockers. In other words, they’ll only open if they’re deactivated.” A loud noise came from Raven’s direction as she smacked her hand down on her bag.

“Are you serious?!” Oh no… He knew what she was feeling, but the day’s events were taking their toll on her in a much worse way. “You think we’re gonna’ steal from you?! Being Faunus doesn’t make us thieves!”

“I didn’t say tha-“

“I didn’t ask for you to take pity on me or to even be on a team together,” Raven marched out the door with some clothes in her arms. “I’m already sick of this place”

“Wait,” Qrow chased after her. “Where are you going?!”

“To take a shower,” Raven shouted back. “And be by myself!” Qrow attempted to follow her, but Tai held him back with a light grasp. The darker clad boy ripped his arm away from the muscular blonde and glared at him, noticing Summer walk up behind him.

“Dude, it’s bad enough you guys just pissed her off, now you’re trying to start with me to?” Tai shook his head No.

“Tai’s just trying to tell you that you can’t go to the Women’s showers,” Summer said calmly, irritating Qrow even more. How could she just have a cool head about this?! “I know you’re worried about her. I’ll give her a few minutes to calm down and check on her myself.”

“That doesn’t exactly make me feel any better. You caused this.”

“It’s a misunderstanding,” Summer waved her hand. “I’m not accusing you guys of anything. You two are probably more trustworthy than just about anyone else here **because** you’re Faunus.” Summer checked her phone. “I don’t wanna’ leave her alone too long. Tai, you talk to him. Qrow’s not the one we need to worry about.”

“Uh, wait, why isn’t he a concern?”

“I’ll explain later or you can ask him,” Summer walked away. “If he wants to tell you about it. I need to make sure she’s safe.”

This might have just been Qrow, but even among all the Faunus, the Branwens were rare. These days there weren’t many birds of prey left… Did Summer have knowledge on their particular species?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Ooooooo, I wonder what’s gonna’ happen with the girls! (Actually, I don’t. I already know lullz.) I do want to explain a bit about Summer’s power real quick. This IS NOT something that Ruby will get. It’s not inherited. Rose’s have to be taught to do things like what Summer can by another Rose. Unfortunately, is Ruby’s era, Summer is no longer around to do so. :( So this is something unique to Summer. Also, no. Tai and Summer are not actually siblings. They grew up together. For the Branwen twin, I thought a cool feature for them would be the transformation.
> 
> In Lightforge, only Weres can change, but they have to learn to be at peace with their beasts. Faunus are already born in coexistence, which comes out in the form of animal-like characteristics. Making the Branwens unique in being the only tribe that can change, despite being a Faunus seemed interesting. Unlike Weres, they become the actual bird of prey they are named after, where Weres become a humanoid. Anyway, I may need to put a SENSITIVE SUBJECT MATTER label for the next chapter. It’s technically a self-harm thing, but not in the way that you would normally expect. I’ll label it and you guys can let me know if you think it’s an appropriate label. Thanks guys!


	3. Tradition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Holidays are just around the corner! Hope everyone is doing well! Last week was Lightforge week, so this is Requiem’s turn! Fingers crossed I can stick to this! Lightforge has a really big thing coming up next! Anyway, WARNING: POSSIBLY SENSITIVE MATERIAL:
> 
> I mentioned in the last chapter I might put a warning up for this chapter. I do think this might be a bit sensitive for people who self harm or have a past with it. It’s an actual bird trait. It’s definitely not as intense as I’ve seen other stories get, but it’s here as a warning just in case.

 

What right did she have to play the part of savior and turn around and accuse them of dishonesty?! Spilling bottles all over the counter, Raven slammed her things down. Luckily, there had been no one in the showers at this time of night. She frowned as she tried to straighten everything out, but her frustration grew and she kept knocking them over. Finally, she was over it and smacked a bottle of lime and cedar shampoo into the wall the counter sat on. Why was this girl getting under her skin so much? Ultimately, her assigned partner was just like all the other humans and the only team mate Raven could trust was her brother…

Qrow… he would have been hurt because of her stubbornness back there. Subconsciously, her hand traced along the crest of feathers that adorned the back of her head. Coming across the rigid feathers mangled by the asshole from earlier, her eyes lifted to the mirror and she took in the empty expression that stared back at her. There had been more feathers earlier, but now they were missing, exposing hair that was matted in dried blood. Forcefully grasping a damaged feather, she shoved part of a towel into her mouth. Biting as she pulled, she yanked the feather out and screamed into it. She looked at the feather and placed it on the counter, letting a small amount blood pool around the shaft of the feather. With a heavy sigh, she readied herself one more. This always hurt like hell, but she’d never had to do this in this magnitude.

As she selected the next feather, she winced in anticipation of the coming pain. It hurt so much and the expectation always made it worse, but it wasn’t just on a physical level. These were her pride and joy, but they would bring harm to her brother. He shouldn’t have to pay for her shortcomings. A small part of her was upset with him though. Their feathers came with benefits – they were extension of themselves, but he had chosen the coward’s way out and forsaken them. Losing them meant denouncing the very thing that made the Branwen tribe so special. With another hard yank, she dislodged the next and screamed into the towel, setting the obsidian feather on top of its predecessor and set about selecting the next beloved piece of herself.

“Hey,” Raven paled, letting the towel fall from her mouth. Anyone but her. This was the last person she wanted to catch her doing something like this. “Whacha doin’?” Just beyond her reflection, Summer stood pressed against the door. Her voice had been friendly enough, but it didn’t match the worried expression on her face. Taking a deep breath, Raven decided to face her head on and turned around, putting weight on her hands as she leaned into the counter, but Summer wasn’t focused on her. Tracing her line of sight, Raven ended up at feathers sitting on the counter in a small pool of her own blood.

“N-nothing,” Raven sat the towel over top her beloved feathers. “Why are you he-“ She was silenced as Summer walked over and sat on the unused side of the counter.

“Do you like them?” Raven knew she meant the feathers.

“Why wouldn’t I?” The darker teen hissed in response. What kind of question was that? Of course, she did! She was Faunus.

“Then why?” With those curious silver eyes, the question was innocent enough, but Raven wasn’t one to be fooled.

“Are you really asking something like that, after today?” What the hell was her problem?!

“I just want to hear it from you,” Summer lead on with a more serious tone. “Rather than making assumptions about you. Those are your flight feathers, right?” She knew about those???... Of course, she did…

“Look, I share traits with an animal, but I’m not one. They grow back,” Raven muttered and gave a half-hearted laugh. “They always do. It’s just like hair, except it takes forever and it’s painful, but it’s more painful to feel my twin’s pain.”

“Then I’m sure that Qrow can also feel your pain,” Summer offered a smile, that irritated her again. “I didn’t mean for you to think I was accusing you of potentially raiding my things in the future.” Summer looked warmly into her eyes with a genuine smile. “You might have noticed that Tai and I aren’t well liked here. You two are Faunus, so you’ll get whatever treatment they’d normally give, but now you’ll be recognized as _Tai and Summer’s partners_. They’ll harass you just like us.” Harass them?

“What does that have to do with us?”

“I know you heard what they said about us earlier.”

_Freaks of a feather flock together! It fucking figures you’re Faunus lovers, too!_

“Wasn’t that a stab at us being Faunus?” Raven wasn’t sure if she liked where this was going. “Faunus are considered Freaks, just like Weres, Vampires, and any other being of Darkforge.”

“Hmmm, I supposed so.” With those words, Summer became distant. “Tai and I are considered to be Human-class Freaks – beings that have no affinity for Forges, yet possess something equally as powerful.”

“Equally as…” That didn’t make sense. “What could possibly be equal to Forges?” Raven recalled the world going grey and freezing around her. “Magic?... I thought that was a long forgotten art.”

“Oh, it is,” Summer let out a small giggle. “Most people don’t maintain awareness when I do that.”

“I’m not most people,” Raven stated vigilantly.

“I know.” Those silver eyes felt like they were searching through Raven’s soul, absorbing every part of her. “It’s something like that, anyway.” They flitted to the mirror and focused on something just past Raven. Following her eyes again, she found was nothing there.

“What are you looking at?” This elicited a small laugh from her partner, who started to slowly reach out toward the side of Raven’s head. Instinctually, Raven grabbed it firmly, causing the girl in white to jump.

“So pretty,” Summer relaxed her arm, letting Raven know that she was ultimately in control, but she never let that smile falter. Raven’s eyes grew wider as she recalled the girl from a few years back and she found herself guiding Summer’s hand to the feather she believed she was referencing. Her partner touched her fingertips to the underside and ran her thumb tenderly along the rachis, down to the soft downy closer to her scalp. She felt so vulnerable staring into this girl’s eyes and letting her so close. A blush growing across her cheeks, Raven’s eyes eased up as she loosened her grip on Summer’s wrist and traced her hand, interlocking their fingers.

“Are you her?” Summer smiled in reply and Raven’s blush grew brighter as she realized she had spoken out loud.

“I’m so glad I’m not the only one who’s been thinking that,” Summer laughed out loud.

“Were you the one I felt watching me when I got here?”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.” God, her eyes were just as stunning as Raven remembered. “I wanted to be sure and there wasn’t a good time to bring it up.” Unsure of where to go from this discovery, an uncomfortable silence ensued until Summer ran her thumb along the feather once more… Why did this action feel so much more intimate with the knowledge she had now?

“You’re hurting yourself,” Summer’s voice sounded so soft and sad. “I don’t want you to, but if you’re really adamant about removing them, let me help. I don’t want you to get an infection.”

“My family has always done it this way,” Raven let Summer’s hand go and they both brought them back to their sides. “It’s tradition.” Summer crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks out.

“And I bet everything was swollen and got infected too!” There was no response from Raven. “That’s what I thought! C’mere!” This wasn’t going to end well for the corven Faunus and she could already feel it. “Strip down!”

**ooOOoo**

“Aaaaaaah,” Qrow kicked the post of his bed. What was taking so long? They weren’t back yet and he was started to get worried. He sat down on the bed mulling over all the bad things that could be happening and his leg started shaking with his impatience. That’s it! He was done with waiting. Qrow jumped up and started to head to the door.

“Dude, things are fine.”

 “You don’t know that!” Qrow snapped at Tai. “It’s not like your sister is over there.” Looking up from his book, Tai frowned at the suggestion that he couldn’t relate. “I’m gonna’ go find her.” As he turned to the door, it opened and Summer barged through with a heap of towels in her arms.

“Oh, hai!” She said in a chipper voice as she barreled happily through the door, followed by a sweet and woody aroma. Following closely behind her was who he recognized the scent to belong to, though his sister was incredibly dressed down, sporting a grey v-neck and black sweat pants. A towel was draped across her neck and she shifted awkwardly, but it was her hair that caught him off-guard.

“What did you do to my sister?” He growled accusingly and Tai loudly flipped a page in his book, continuing to ignore the situation. Seriously? Did he not have a single care in the world?

“Relax Qrow,” Raven looked up in embarrassment. “She didn’t make me do anything.” Raven walked past him and started to remove the towel from her shoulders, but Summer all but teleported over to her with an eager look.

“Nuh uh, **you** sit down!” The two stared each other down until Raven gave in and rolled her eyes.

“Alright.” There was a sense of playfulness he’d never heard in his sister’s voice and he realized this version of Summer also seemed a lot more relaxed than the earlier one. What was this aura of fondness between them? “You know I can dry my own hair, right?”

“Nuh uh, you’re probably the type that just rubs it all around into a giant rat’s nest and then rakes a comb through it in the morning.” With a single laugh of disbelief, Qrow could barely believe how accurately this stranger hit that nail on the head without knowing her. Who the hell was she to worm her way past most of from Raven’s walls so quickly? “Now turn around.”

“Alright,” Raven sighed, sitting on the bed with her legs crossed and faced Summer’s bed. Summer sat a few towels behind Raven and leaned onto the bed with one leg for balance, leaving the other on the ground. She started from the ends of Raven’s long charcoal locks, squeezing gently to soak up any residual water. As she worked her way up, Qrow couldn’t help but notice the look of contentment on Raven’s face. It was strange, she actually seemed like she was being lulled to sleep. As Summer reached the crown of her head, Raven winced and her shoulders locked up.

“Sorry,” Summer stopped to let some of Raven’s hair fall loose and reduce the amount of tension. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” Raven’s voice was soft and sleepy. “It’s just tender.” After a moment, Summer returned to her administrations of her partner’s hair.

“I don’t think you’re an animal,” Summer stated out of nowhere and Raven opened her eyes in thought. Clearly, this meant something that he had missed while they were gone. “But most Faunus share qualities with the species they are aligned with.”

“Aligned with?” Raven tried really hard to focus on what Summer was saying, but all this pampering was incredibly relaxing. She was used to being called an animal, but Summer way of thinking liked Faunus to a co-existing within oneself, rather than something that was almost human until genetics gave them the short end of the stick. It was strangely accepting. In a brief flash of pain, Raven winced as Summer reached an especially sore spot, but Summer became gentler. This was the area where her feathers had been ripped from her earlier.

“Mmmhmmm,” Summer leaned over Raven’s shoulder and showed her a light red-stained white towel and Raven’s eyes grew worried. “This was why I wanted to help you. This is what you share with birds. You strike me as someone who feels safe when you’re in control of the situation. Some birds defeather themselves when stressed and accidentally harm themselves as a result. I don’t think that it’s just _tradition_ , like you said.”

“It,” Raven looked away. She couldn’t handle Summer looking into her eyes right now. It was like she could see directly into her soul through her eyes. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Raven,” Summer frowned. “That was a lot of blood earlier. It might not have looked like it to you, but that came from your head. I just wanted to make sure you were safe and didn’t have regrets if you were going to do this.” Summer looked through her hair one last time to check for continued bleeding. “There’s still a little bleeding, but it’s not too bad. Just make sure you wash your hair in the morning. Let me know if you need help. I don’t mind.” Summer got up and picked up another towel, laying it across Raven’s pillow. “So your pillow doesn’t get stained.”

“Thank you…” Raven twiddled her thumbs nervously – another odd behavior Qrow noted. “Why do you know so much about birds?”

“No particular reason.”

“That’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one,” Tai grinned, sitting up from his book. “Look at you being all responsible!”

“Hey!” Summer glared at him and threw a towel at him that fell off, revealing a sly face.

“Summer’s got a big imagination,” Tai began excitedly. “A few years ago, Summer claimed she saved a bird girl from falling to her death off a skyscraper. When dad and I found Summer, no one was there,” he recalled their childhood memories fondly. “She probably just made up an imaginary friend because she was lost in the city at night. Summer got obsessed with birds after that and read every book she could find about birds, weres, and Faunus. She even made friends with people that I’m pretty sure were White Fang members.”

“Are you crazy?!” Qrow shrieked in an alarmed voice. “Those Faunus will kill you, Summer!”

“That’s what I said, but noooo!” Tai exaggerated. “Let’s not listen to your big bro!” Wait… they were siblings?... Aaaand now Qrow felt bad.

“You’re not my brother, ass!” Tai grabbed onto her and leaned back on his bed. “Hey, lemme go!”

“And we used to cuddle like this all the time,” he said gleefully. “You were such a cutie back then!” He teased her relentlessly. “Brother Tai, pwease wead me a stowiiiieeee!”

“I called you that because you’re a monk,” she wiggled her way out of his grasp. “You’re so annoying!”

“Only when it comes to you, Sum!” He smiled as things settled down into an awkward silence and Raven looked to the floor, pressing her fingers together.

 “I didn’t think you’d remember me.” Raven’s voice implied she was focused in her own thoughts.

“Wait, what?” Tai’s smile dropped and Qrow cocked his head curiously. This was his first time hearing about this.

“I **knew** you wouldn’t remember, so I didn’t want to say anything about it… At least, that’s what I thought,” Summer replied to Raven’s revelation. “I wasn’t hurt by that. My face was hidden under my hood, so there was no way you’d recognize me, even if you did remember.”

“That’s not true!” Raven raised her voice and looked across the room adamantly at Summer. “I remembered your… eyes. That’s… how I knew who you were earlier.” Raven thought a little harder. “That and I remembered the little blonde boy that called out for a Summer.”

“That’s no fair,” Summer pouted. “You knew my name and I had to wait so long for yours! You never even came to see me!”

“How was I supposed to do that?!” Raven challenged her. “You moved!” Oh shit… A devious smile curled its way onto Summer’s lips.

“So you did?” Summer teased, hoping to get another reaction out of her.

“D-Darkforge beings don’t be-…” She recited the Branwen teachings but silenced herself before she finished. That’s right… She shouldn’t be acting so freely.

“Don’t what, Raven?” Ah, she hated this innocent look. It was hard to refuse it. She did the same thing in the bathroom. This human was going to be the death of her. Raven sighed in defeat and finished her statement.

“Belong with humans…”

“There’s no reason you should ever think that. Humans are idiots,” Summer crossed her arms and nodded as she spoke. “I should know. I have to deal with this guy!” She jabbed Tai playfully who shouted in mock-protest. “There’s nothing wrong with us all being friends.”

“Wait, seriously?...” Qrow’s eyes were flat. “You gave me shit all these years for wanting human friends and you’ve had one this whole time?!” To emphasize his point, Summer jumped from Tai’s bed to Raven’s and hugged her.

“And now we’re gonna’ be besties!” Raven went completely white and felt her soul leaving her body. “Uh, too much?” Playing it off, Raven pushed her away by the face.

“Too much energy,” she said blankly. There was no way she could tell her that she found that much contact to be overwhelming. “Go to sleep.” With a laugh, Summer fell back onto Raven’s bed and rolled off.

“This is your bed though,” she stuck her tongue out. “And I’m not tired!”

“Oh, uh, here,” Raven took a small red pouch out from her things and handed it to Summer. “You wanted this.”

“Oh!” Summer grinned widely as she took it and bounced back over to her bed, pressing something on her phone. “Perfect!” The drawer under her bed opened and she placed it inside.

“Since we’re your teammates, should we also get those?” Summer looked back at her sadly.

“Probably.” Raven nodded, mostly to herself.

“Do you think you could show us where to buy them?” Summer fidgeted nervously.

“Summer built and programmed ours,” Tai explained. “They’re ridiculously expensive and the ones available have way too wide of a range.”

“Don’t you have to be, like, really smart to build those?” Qrow wondered out loud.

“Summer is part of the Weapons Development and Engineering programs,” Tai added. “So when our room got raided by our fellow classmates, Summer took advantage of one of her class projects to build them.”

“They only have a radius that affects the locking mechanism,” Summer explained. “Normally, they wouldn’t allow it, but they didn’t see what harm it could do if I made the range that small.” Summer looked back at Raven. “But if you want, I need to run into town soon anyway, so we can get the parts then and I can build them for you two. I just have to do it in our off-time.”

“That works for me,” Qrow confirmed. “How about you, sis?” Holy shit, it was weird seeing her without the feathers, though with the longer ones gone, it revealed the much softer mess of down feathers beneath them that gave her hair a choppy appearance.

“Sounds fine.” Raven pulled the blanket from her bed up and slid herself underneath, leaning her weight onto her arm. With everything having calmed down, the others had also taken the opportunity to follow suit. Qrow had already lain down to try to sleep, while Summer tapped away on her phone, and Tai waited patiently. Raven turned the lamp on her side off and Tai followed shortly after, letting the room darken, aside from the soft glow of Summer’s phone. Though she still tapped away, Raven noticed that Summer had put ear buds in this time around. It was the courteous thing to do, though really she should have been sleeping… Summer…

_“Strip down!”_

Reflecting on the earlier events in the bathroom, Raven blushed furiously as she lay down. She didn’t make her strip completely. Just enough to let Summer wash her hair without soaking her clothes completely, but it was still far less clothing than the most naked she’d ever been in front of someone in the past. She inhaled as she recalled the feeling of her partner’s fingers running through her hair and the trickle of the water as it cascaded over her ebony mane of hair - even the way the feathers came out with less resistance. There was a small amount of discomfort, but she had been relaxed the entire time… Maybe it was the tenderness Summer treated her with or even something logical, like the watering opening her pores or something…

But no, to Raven it had to be something that struck her more, like the way that Summer kept eye contact with her the entire time. She was far too absorbed in those silver orbs to brace herself for the coming pain and that was probably what helped... In her time of need, everything about Summer had become a welcomed distraction from the problem that was her heritage.

Reliving the event, she felt a heat rise to her face again. Summer was so strange… but why had she become so comfortable with her? Shooting a glance toward the foot of her bed, she caught Summer staring at her from across the room. Betrayed by the glow of her phone, their eyes met and Summer tried to quickly hide behind the small device. When she thought Raven had looked away, she tried to peek past it and Raven smiled lightly with a quiet laugh. Caught, Summer smiled back sheepishly and blushed…. She really was interesting.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Well, hopefully this chapter wasn’t too much. You’ll notice that Raven is a bit on the OoC side in both the Lightforge stories. I started writing this before Raven’s character was truly shown for what she is and took some liberties with her. She does still have prideful and selfish characteristics, but she doesn’t have as many walls up. I do think that Raven in the show does have good qualities buried the front she puts up. We have seen some moments where she falters a bit, but it seems that she has fear and mistrust that deters her from being a truly helpful character. Requiem will build Raven into a character who overcomes a lot of her issues, but ultimately sinks back down and is filled with regrets and anger.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas guys! I dropped a chapter for LF, LF:R, and Frequency G between yesterday and today! Hope your holidays have been well!

 

“Taaaaai! Why are you so stroooooong!!!!” It was more of a joke that Summer was making than anything as she swung back and forth from his arm. As if to prove her point, Tai flexed his bicep and lifted her higher.

“That looks incredibly obnoxious.” That was it! Whatever admiration she had secretly developed for the girl over the last few days, Raven was taking back.

“Ah, I dunno,” Qrow said in a sage-like manner and flexed his own arm. “You wanna’ give it a shot?”

“Hell no, we’re the same height,” Raven frowned. “You’re not even that tall to begin with.”

“But if I was, you would?” He grinned mischievously at her, earning a smack.

“Hey, you two! Took ya’ long enough to get up! You almost missed breakfast!” Tai crossed the dining hall to join the twins while Summer swayed back and forth with each step. As he drew closer, Summer demonstrated her astounding athletics, lifting her legs and wrapping them around his arm to hang upside down instead. Holding firmly with her legs, she snagged a piece of toast as they passed the breakfast buffet and started to nibble on it. It really didn’t help that Tai was encouraging this behavior by **not** saying anything. “Thought you guys might wind up late!” Arm still flexed, Qrow continued to stare at Summer and didn’t answer the tan blonde. “Uh, dude, whatever you do, don’t make eye contac-.” He was too late. With a twinkle in her eye, Summer let go and latched onto her new target: Qrow’s arm. “Aaaand I can no longer save you.”

“Ummmm,” Qrow stumbled with the added weight, but wound up catching himself. Lifting his arm, he noted how light she actually was in comparison to her appearance. She practically weighed nothing! With triumph in her eyes and a piece of toast hanging from her, she stared at him eagerly and it pulled at his heart. She was actually incredibly adorable and he cried internally over this… until she engulfed the piece of toast in one fell motion that made him turn blue with concern.

“Hands off my brother!” Something irked at Raven’s nerves with this display and she snapped. How could Summer be so overly familiar with him? Sure, she hadn’t know her very long either, but Raven had at least met her before. It excused the actions from their first night here, right???

“Wow, Tai!” Summer grinned. “He doesn’t look that strong, but I think you have competition!”

“What?” Tai came to life. “No way! He doesn’t have any muscle!”

“See for yourself.” She said flatly.

“I’m not hanging from his arm…”

“No silly,” Summer laughed. “You can do guy things.” He stared at her like she was growing a horn on her head before it finally clicked.

“Arm wrestle!” He looked at Qrow like an excited puppy. “Let’s arm wrestle!”

“I’m not gonna’ arm wrestle you!” Qrow exclaimed as he glanced at Tai’s bulging biceps. “You’ll snap me in half!”

“It’s cuz he’s scared,” Summer poked at him.

“Qrow isn’t scared,” Raven said flatly, before just delivered the final blow to his already dismal confidence. “He just knows not to fight a losing battle.”

“Oh buuurrrrn,” Summer pretended to hide her mouth and whispered in a loud voice.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, sis,” Qrow said sarcastically. How lovely of her to suddenly decide to be snarky in front of their partners.

“You’re welcome.” Wait, was she kidding or did she think he was actually thanking her? Holy crap, they needed to work on her people skills.

 _Flap flap flap… Caw!_ A bird flapped its way to a nearby tree and called out, drawing a brief glance from the obsidian haired teenager just long enough for it to see her acknowledge it. It cocked its head questioningly at Raven and she veered away in shame. Now ignored, it took off into the distance and Raven became slightly irritated. It had only been a few days and they were already trying to check in on her? Seriously???

“So Rose, since we don’t have class, you wanted to go into town today?” Summer let herself swing to a still and frowned at Raven.

“Summer…” The white clad girl said with a huff and dropped from Qrow’s arm, wondering why Raven insisted on using her last name. Qrow certainly had no issue with it.“You can call me Summer and yeah. I need to stop somewhere and then we can grab the stuff for you.”

“Alright,” Raven threw her hands up. “Let’s get going then.” If she were to be honest, she was genuinely interested to see this engineering in action. It could make her a useful enough pawn later down the road. Complete honesty would be to say she was curious about Summer’s hobbies outside of that damn phone… or her unnerving antics…

Still, the girl’s happy demeanor made for a challenging enough to read defense mechanism, but even with as disinterested as the blonde oaf also acted, they both seemed to want to find “the right people” for their inner circle. The twins could fake that. Irritating as the idea was, it could be tolerated… to a degree… She’d only be pretending … right???

“Wh- what are you doing?!” Summer grabbed Raven’s hands and started pulling her long.

“You said, _let’s go_!” The shorter haired girl pulled harder with excitement. “So stop being a Miss Moody Broody Pants and let’s go!”

“Yo, dude,” Qrow threw his hands back and spoke to Tai. “She’s a bit on the hyper side.”

“ _A bit_ is an understatement. I can barely keep up with her, man. Honestly, she wears me out!” Shoulders sagging, Tai lamented as he lagged behind the girls a bit to have his own conversation with Qrow. It only seemed fair that if Summer could cling to Raven, he could entertain the idea of having a bro of his own. “I really do hope this team works out. I mean, by now, other teammates would have already been trying to get transferred away from us and you guys are sticking around so far.”

“You two just have a lot of pent up energy and don’t get out much,” Qrow pointed, recalling what they had to go through in order to leave the school grounds for a few hours today. A foreign concept to Qrow, Summer and Tai had to submit paperwork to request to leave the school grounds – _only_ Summer and Tai had to. At first, Raven hadn’t understood why they couldn’t just go into town like every other student, but the longer they were around these two, the more they learned that they had special circumstances. Generally, the two wouldn’t be permitted off school grounds unless supervised by an approved faculty member, but the headmaster approved it, saying that there didn’t seem to be much concern as long as they were accompanied by their partners and stayed in crowded areas... _also_ an unusual stipulation… “We just need to get you two out more.”

“Heh, yeah,” Tai laughed darkly. This was possibly the first time Qrow had seem him with an expression other than happiness or neutrality. “I just… I want her to enjoy herself and it’d be nice for her to make some new friends while she still can…”

“Is there something going on with Summer?” That was… an unusual thing for him to say and Qrow had to wonder: Did Summer have some sort of special circumstance unique to her? “You’re implying she doesn’t have a lot of time. Is she dying or something?”

“Oh, uh,” he scratched at his cheek. “Did I say something like that?”

“No, it just **sounded** like that.”

“Eh,” Tai shrugged dismissively and motioned toward the girls. “I mean, eventually she’ll have to grow up, right?” That really sounded like he was trying to avoid the question, but he looked anyway. Watching Summer move back and forth between jumping on Raven and getting swatted away, he snickered as Qrow paled in horror.

“She’s gonna’ kill her,” Qrow whispered to himself.

“Who, Summer?” Tai’s face twisted in mock denial as he looked over the girl he deemed to be harmless. “Nah, she wouldn’t hurt a fly!”

“Not her! Raven!” Qrow watched on as his sister was tormented, when Summer suddenly ran off, dragging her behind. “Hey!” Qrow chased after them and Tai jogged close behind with an amused grin. How could he think this was funny?

“If you don’t take your hands off me, I will choke the living shit out of you!”

“Oooo,” Summer squealed as she fled behind Tai. “You’re testy!”

“Raven, c’mon!”  Qrow stood in front of Raven, blocking her way before she could give chase. “Can it really be that bad?”

“She keeps trying to touch my sides and it feels weird!” As if to prove her point, Summer wiggled her fingers with a sinister smile.

“… You mean, she keeps trying to tickle you?” Tai laughed as Qrow put together Summer’s crime.

“Guilty as charged, your honor!” Summer giggled, but Qrow didn’t return her amusement. “Oh, c’mon. You can’t be a sourpuss **all** the time, Raven. Brighten up a little bit!”

“What would you know, Rose?” Raven gritted her teeth. “Neither of you would understand what it’s like to live with Darkforge.” Summer’s breath hitched and her happy façade dropped into something strangely vacant. Well, at least she was being a bit more serious.

“Hey, I understand that it’s difficult but isn’t it something that can be worked with?” Tai tried to help them reach an understanding by asking about the problem. They hadn’t been very open with each other about much in the way of their personal lives. “It’s like your brother is able to set his aside with no problem, but you embrace yours so maybe it’s harder???”

“It’s not that easy,” Raven crossed her arms with a grouchy look. “I actually cherish what I have.”

“Raven and I are polar opposites when it comes to Darkforge,” Qrow said as they continued walking into town with the two girls facing away from each other. “I actually really despise having Darkforge, but it doesn’t change that I have work to extremely hard to hide it. Sometimes, it takes everything I have. Even after removing the feathers, there are still certain traits. Without the feathers during the night, people think we’re vampires because of the red eyes and pale skin. It startles people during the day, but then they remember that the actual Red Eyes can’t be out in daylight. It’ll be fine since we’re with you guys, but normally, we’d have to wear contacts. Then there’s the Darkforge itself.”

“It must be awful that it doesn’t go away.” Until now, Summer had been unusually quiet, but even so, her voice was uncharacteristically distant. “That horrible feeling that’s neither empty nor full. It burns through your body like acid until you let it loose, but it just replenishes itself all over again and the night just makes it even worse. When the normal people are able to sleep, it builds up and encourages a wickedness inside you that you have to keep buried out of fear that someone will put you down like some sort of monster. You never have anywhere to go for peace of or anyone to talk to for fear that you’ll suddenly be labeled some sort of monster and flee from the very humanity that you want so desperately to accept you. It just eats away at what makes you you…”

The twins slowed to a stop as she spoke and Raven dropped her arms. They flashed a puzzled look toward each other, making sure they had both just heard correctly. Disturbingly enough, she had just described it accurately, but there was something a bit more vivid to her description… too vivid…

“Hey, Sum.” Even Tai had grown concerned with her sudden change of mood. This was something he hadn’t experienced yet. “Are you okay? I’ve never heard you talk like this before…” Summer came to a stop and slowly turned to look over her shoulder, but what they all saw made them freeze. Tai for a reason of his own, but the twins because of the hollow look in her eyes.

Hands sliding into her pockets, the silver orbs shifted up toward a building and Raven traced her line of sight, landing on a familiar black bird. Heart sinking into her stomach, she panicked that Summer might have realized that the bird had been watching them and even more so when Summer ventured in its direction. Tension grew, as well as the pit in her stomach, as Summer drew closer and she exchanged a look with Qrow who acknowledged the same fear. If she interacted with it, they would have to interfere… but she simply went past it and into whatever the building was… and the bird flew away.

Letting out a heavy sigh, the twins exchanged a look. That was too close for comfort. When Raven spoke to him, she would have to ask that he not follow so closely when he wanted to be noticed. Her partners really did make her nervous, especially with her having yet been able to determine the extent of their abilities. She knew they could see Darkforge and that Summer had something to do with time manipulation, but Tai hadn’t even used anything besides his bare fists.

“Tai, the way you were talking about Summer earlier was kinda’... strange,” Qrow shifted uncomfortably and tried to move the focus away from the bird. Maybe they could get a little info about their team leader. “But I have to ask, is Summer a Werebeast?”

“Pfffft, no,” Tai grimaced and fell back onto a bench, covering his mouth as he thought. “Not even close. We’re both about as human as you can get.”

“That seems inaccurate,” Raven pointed out suspiciously, noting the alarmed look in his eye. Whatever it was, there was something there that he had just thought about. “You were both labeled Freaks the other day.”

“Eh, we’re each one of a kind,” he shrugged and sat down, waiting for Summer to come back out. “What can I say? She’s just really empathetic toward your people’s plight. I told you – she met some White Fang before and got familiar with the Faunus cause. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had a better understanding than I do. I know I’ll never have to endure Darkforge, so I can’t bother familiarizing with it on that level. I’m just not capable, but she’s trying to cram as much as she can into her life. I guess that includes experiencing other people’s emotions.”

“That’s bullshit,” Raven frowned. “You just made this look. There’s something else there and you and I both know it.”

“You met Summer, what, once five years ago for all of a two minute exchange?” Disdain laced his voice and what was possibly the true Tai came out. “You wouldn’t know anything about her,” he pointed at himself with his thumb. “I’ve had to put her back together into something that could even remotely be recognized as a functional human. I was 11 when they put rebuilding the mental state of a broken nine year old on me. She lost everything she ever had and she’s just gonna’ lose it all over again!” He buried his face in his hands. “It just isn’t fair… They’re asking too much…” A hand patted against his shoulder.

“Tai, you know I appreciate you right?” His stopped with Summer’s voice. Had she heard everything he had said? “I don’t expect you to always be by my side. We’ll inevitably separate whether we want to or not. A day will come where you and I will look at each other for the last time and never see each other again.” Every word broke his heart even and he didn’t get how she could say that with such warmth in her eyes. “That’s out of our control, but at least we have a say in how we live now, and I’ll be here until that time… or until you’re sick of me!” She grinned a stupid smile and pulled him forward and put a fist to the air in false triumph. “Let’s go get their stuff!” The outstretched fist turned into a wide stretch, leaving the twins to ponder what sort of things the two had going on. They couldn’t be too sure, but having learned they were connected to the Schnee, it was a safe bet to say they had something to do with it.

“Soooo, you’re in a way better mood…” Tai looked her over, but there was nothing different. “I don’t get it. You didn’t buy anything.”

“Just because I don’t have it doesn’t mean I didn’t buy anything,” she said matter-of-factly. “I just happened to order a service. That’s all.”

“So what was i-“ A finger to his face silenced him.

“That, my friend,” she drew the same finger to her own lips. “Is a secret!” She eyed Raven and grinned mischievously at her, making the Faunus nervous. “Let’s go grab your stuff and I’ll try to get started on it if it’s not too late!”

**ooOOoo**

Sitting here watching Summer in the workshop had actually been sort of boring. She had decided to put each one of them together at the same time, rather than individually, in order to maintain consistency and ensure she made them the same – because twinsies, right? Ugh. If being a twin had ever been a bane on her existence, it stood that now it was at its worst.

Looking out the window, she felt herself lulling to sleep, until that damn bird reappeared in her view. It pecked at the glass of the window and cocked its head impatiently. Internally, she rolled her eyes, but outwardly, she gave a slight nod. She didn’t even know what she would say, but this was bad. He had just caught her slacking off.

“What did Tai mean when he said you were broken?” Raven suddenly blurted out and Summer froze. Clearly caught off guard, she shifted uncomfortably and Raven realized her error. “N-nevermind, if I’ve touched a sore subject.”

“You remember how you and I met a few years ago?” Summer waited for Raven to acknowledge her with a nod before she continued. Summer looked down and shifted herself again. “Well… my… my family… A-about half a year before that, the Council murdered my family… The Xiao Long monks took me in after that… A close friend of Mom’s dropped me off with Tai’s family.”

Now it made sense. Raven had always thought the girl who saved her seemed off. Even now, Summer still had those qualities, but there was more on top of it. She felt like Summer was wearing a mask on top of a mask. From Tai’s words earlier, it was clear to her that Summer even had one up around him. There were layers to the girl and she couldn’t be sure which one was the real one, if any of those even were.

Summer lived with the Xiao Long monks. This explained her not living in the home Raven had followed them back to. After that night, they had probably panicked and Tai’s family probably moved into the temple itself… But there was an alarming part of Summer’s story that also explained the amount of effort it took to leave the school grounds and raised an even bigger question. Summer was obviously in hiding and Tai was her guardian, so why was the Council after her?

“I can see the gears turning in your head,” Summer gave a dark laugh and pressed a piece of solder close to the soldering iron, letting pool on the chip’s surface. “By now, you’ve probably realized that I’m a special case.”

“I’ve… had ideas,” Raven glanced away. “But somewhere along needing approval to leave the school grounds, I began to consider that it might be more than I believed.” Summer hummed in approval, as she repeated the action. She had such a focused look in her eyes that made Raven feel drawn in. How could this be the same girl from earlier today?

“I would have thought it was the part where I have friends in the White Fang.”

“That’s dangerous, Summer!” Didn’t she know that the White Fang hated humans? “You shouldn’t deal with them! They’ll betray you or even worse!”

“Well, look at you being so worried about little ol’ me!” Raven huffed at the grin Summer sent her and the silver-eyed girl returned to her work. “Tai doesn’t realize that my mom’s friend that left me with with the monks is really high up in the White Fang now. He might pee himself if he realizes just how close that guy was standing to him hahaha!” Wait, Summer knew White Fang **officials**?!

“Why would a White Fang official help you, though?”

“Does it bother you to think that humans and Faunus can be compassionate toward one another?” Summer tilted her head with a sly look on her face and Raven thought back to Summer’s various kindnesses toward her, as well as the actions Raven had mistaken for ill-intent.

“It’s not that it bothers me,” Raven mumbled. “It’s that people can mask their intentions. We only help each other when there is something to be gained.” …That’s why Raven was talking to Summer, right? Because Summer served a purpose for her. There was no other reason for her to be paying attention to the girl… right?

“It’s not like I don’t gain anything from being around you, so you’re right.” Summer openly admitted to the accusation and Raven felt something cold in her chest. “But isn’t it like that everywhere?”

“What do you mean?”

“In a symbiotic relationship, at least one participant benefits. Take me and Tai for instance,” Summer offered without looking up. “Tai is like family to me – always has and always will be. I’m protected by him and he supports me emotionally. That’s what I get in return for doing the same.  When both benefit, it’s called a mutual relationship and those are good. Even you and your brother are like that,” she smiled. “But when someone benefits and another is harmed, like vampires, it’s called parasitic… I suppose I also have that quality because of what I am…” Summer drifting off in her thoughts.

“Human?” Raven wondered out loud and Summer came back to reality.

“Huh? Oh,” she shook herself back to normal. “Yeah, I suppose so, haha.” Summer was leaving something out, but she couldn’t be sure what it was. “While my friend has human friends, he realizes that peace also requires action and mom supported that behind the scenes. Unfortunately, the Council hopes to appeal to the Fang’s anti-human sentiments, so things have to be handled carefully. If there is one thing I’d like to do, it’s help to sway the Xiao Long toward supporting his cause. It would be a huge step for the Fang and make a huge statement to the world.”

“How would you do that?” Summer giggled in response.

“Well, maybe if I married Tai, I could convince him when he becomes the head of the temple.” What?! Why would she do that? Weren’t they like siblings to each other?... Well, it would be just like her own parents… There wasn’t really any love there. They’d married for power since that was what the Branwens held dear – just like tradition. Still though, this didn’t seem fitting for someone like Summer. Her freedom had already stagnated and even Raven could see that someone like her needed that to thrive.

Summer’s social skills were quite strange when it came to those outside Tai, and even those were quite… _unique_ was a word. Tai wasn’t helping with that though. Sure, he felt that whatever was going on was unfair, but he seemed to only want to make the problems manageable and help her remain complacent. It felt like they had both given up on the idea of freedom from this cage of a school they were supposed to live in.

“Do you like Tai?” Summer stopped what she was doing again and looked at her with a strange expression. It was fond and Summer’s lips curled into a soft smirk.

“My my,” Summer shrugged. “Only officially known each other for a few days and you’re already jealous? You move fast, Miss Branwen!”

“What! No. I.” Caught off guard, Raven sputtered across her words. “I wouldn’t!”

“Oh, what’s a poor girl to do,” Summer lamented as she snapped a case shut and winked at her. “I do like the fast ones!” Raven froze at the suggestiveness of her words. Was she… flirting with her? Like, seriously??? Humans didn’t flirt with her. They feared her! And made fun of her! That must be it…

“I don’t appreciate being made fun of, Rose,” Raven took a serious tone and narrowed her eyes at her. “The two of you have a strange relationship that I am trying to better understand.” Why was she still staring at her so fondly?!

“I know,” Summer’s smile grew more affectionate and she rest her cheek on her hands. “I wasn’t making fun of you. I’m teasing with you. It’s friendly. I… enjoy this.”

“You enjoy making fun of me?!”

“No…” Summer paused for a moment, considering whether it was too much to speak her mind or not and decided that Raven was awkward enough with human interactions to not draw strange conclusions from her words.. “You… I’m enjoying you…” Suddenly, Raven felt her anger subside. Instead, confusion took its place. No one had ever described her as enjoyable before – maybe intimidating, disinterested, or hostile, but not _enjoyable_. “You’re refreshing. You’re not forcing yourself to be any particular way. You’re natural – untainted by the Schnee superiors that coach people on how to interact with me or the people who are taught to hate me for being different. Even Tai can be fake, but you aren’t. You’ve been constantly on edge around me, but that hasn’t changed how you’ve interacted with me. It’s a very attractive feature in a person, Raven – no matter what anyone says.”

“Attractive?”

“Haha, don’t worry,” Summer closed her eyes and smiled. “You strike me as someone off limits to humans.” That comment stung for some reason. Why did it bother her that Summer had this opinion? Her line of thinking was correct. Branwens did not indulge themselves with humans. “As for me and Tai, I don’t really have the option to decide whether I like him or not. It’s not up to me.”

“Why?” Surely, Summer at least had a say in her choice of partner, right?

“This isn’t really something I want to talk about,” Summer’s smile faltered and left Raven with a strange pang in her chest. “I just want to focus on happy things.”

“Does this also have to do with your parents?” No answer… Raven reached out awkwardly to touch Summer’s hand and the silent girl looked at her curiously. Laughing at the nervous blushing wreck in front of her, Summer hugged her.

“Thank you,” she drew closer to Raven’s ear. “We’ll work on making you more comfortable with being comforting next time.”

“I-I wasn’t trying to be comforting.” Raven crossed her arms in protest. What was it with this girl? There wasn’t a right or wrong answer with her! She just constantly teased her!

“Maybe being more open with your feelings should be on that list too.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like Raven has some internal debates going on and a lot of curiosity about Summer… and some jealousy towards Tai… Calm down! You’ve been at Beacon for like a week! Anyway, soooo, next chapter, Raven and Summer try to kill each other (sort of, cuz Summer’s also kind of not serious half the time)! Fun times! Talk about one step forward and about 12 back! Let’s see how that goes over!


	5. What If...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaah, work got busy and I had to skip on my schedule. For that, I apologize T.T . Anyway, this chapter got a bit too long and I had to split it in half, so no actual fight in this chapter. It’s in the next one though! I technically didn’t lie; I just split it up >.>. Anyway, this chapter will start to set things in motion! Enjoy!

“Ah! Done!” With a thick snap, Summer grinned with pride as she put the casings of the devices together. “Now we can go put them on!”

“I thought you said this was gonna’ take a few days,” Raven gave her ecstatic friend a puzzled look. If Summer had been born a Faunus, it definitely would have been a canine. For a moment, Raven imagined point ears with small tufts of fur sprouting from within them, perched atop her head – a  tail wagging back and forth as she waited eagerly for her master to praise he- _master_?! A furious blush across her face, she slapped herself across her face to hinder herself from delving any further into those thought. What the hell was wrong with her?!

“Uh, Raven?” Worry was written across her partner’s face and it dawned on the faunus that she was probably concered that this was another episode like the other night.

“Yeah, I just... thoughts,” Summer frowned at her reply. “Not like that! Good thoughts! Ah, no, not good! Bad! Bad thoughts!...” The look in Summer’s eyes became uncertain with Raven’s confusing explanation and Raven ruffled her own hair in frustration. “No, not bad! Inappropriate! Agh, why do you do this to me! What am I saying!”

“Ha,” Summer gave a small laugh into her hand and a sly smile weaved across her face. “ _Really_ now? I never took you for _that_ type!” Raven froze as she tried to put together what Summer was implying and glared at her.

“What did _you_ think I meant?” Oh, she knew. She just needed to hear it before she inflicted her swift justice. Instead, Summer’s eyes closed partially to add to her sly look and her cheeks turned a bright hue. She turned away in a haughty manner, lifted her arms, and shrugged.

“Meh!” Without turning back to face her, the team leader eyed her from the corner of her visible eye. “I think you can figure that ou- hey!” Raven swatted at her and Summer pushed a foot playfully into her abdomen to keep her at a distance. “Nooooo! What are you doiiiiiiing!”

“Cleansing the impurities from your mind!”

“You’re the one having impure thoughts!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“What the hell did you think I was thinking?!” Raven finally grabbed both her wrists and pinned her down.

“Um,” Summer eyes darted toward one of the hands immobilizing her own, then travelled lower toward the contact between their bodies. The moment was awkward for both of the girls and Raven shot up first, hitting head on the table. “Careful! It’ll break!”

Summer shifted beneath the woman straddling her to catch one of the devices as they fell off the table and Raven hunched over, rubbing her head. Everything was still sore from the other night and the sudden contact with the table was making it last longer. Surrendering to the pain, she rested her head again the woman beneath her and let it wash over her. It would go away faster if she just let it work its way out.

“Raven?”

“I-I’m fine,” the avian teen relaxed into the almost hypnotic scent of roses that surrounded her. “Just give me a second...” Slowly, Raven tilted her head up, pained carmine meeting a mercury hue that studied her breathlessly. She wasn’t sure what this atmosphere between them was, but it wasn’t unpleasant. A little uncertain, maybe, but she didn’t entirely want it to go away. Raven’s hands dropped from her head and she pushed up, but gave a yelp of surprise as she was dragged back down and caught herself before she could make contact with the flooring. Enveloped in her partner’s arms, Raven’s eyes ventured toward the white-clad girl that had buried herself into her chest.

“Not yet,”the grip was desperate. “Don’t go anywhere, yet.” Raven’s eyes widened. Did she know she was meeting with someone? She should refuse her – really, she should. The grip around her loosened, but she no longer felt that burning call to answer to the one who had summoned her. He could wait some more...

She relaxed and hesitantly drew in closer, nuzzling into Summer’s hair. Letting a little more of her weight rest on the girl below her, she let herself arms free of holding her up completely and wrapped her left arm beneath Summer’s back. A blissful sigh slipped from Summer’s lips and they readjusted themselves to lay on their sides. Legs intertwined, Raven’s hand rested on Summer’s thigh comfortably.

“This is a bit,” Raven paused unsure of herself. Foreheads pressed together, Summer arm were now drapped around Raven’s neck, hands interlocked behind her. “Intimate...”

“You think so?” Eyes closed peacefully, Summer didn’t seem the least bit concerned about the position they were in. She could almost hear her leader’s heartbeat in her ears and became overly aware of every aspect of Summer. From the way her nose gently nuzzled against her cheek to the way her leg gently curled around her own, Summer was driving her crazy and she didn’t know why. Was it really so difficult for Raven to generate an answer to why she felt so nervous?

The avian tried to clear her mind and focus her thoughts on anything but her team leader. Red orbs darting across the room, she searched for something, anything, but alas there was nothing... Until a distinct clicking noise shifted in her ear. With an excuse to put a little distance between them, Raven shifted to get a look at where the sound was coming from and Summer jarred herself from her content state.

“Sorry,” Summer mumbled hazily. “That was the device that got knocked down.”

“It’s not going to blow up on us, right?”

“No,” the engineer giggled to herself. “It’s made of better stuff than mine and Tai’s are.” At the mention of his name, Raven’s overall disposition fell. Why did that bother her so much? Did she not like Tai? The blonde hadn’t really given her a reason not to. Well, there was that whole thing earlier when he pretty much jumped down her throat. It was safe to assume that, to him, she was an unwelcome addition to Summer’s life. To be fair, he hadn’t even known she existed; or more, he had convinced himself that the _bird girl_ that Summer often spoke of was imaginary... Wait... There _was_ something she wanted to know.

“Summer...”Raven hesitated when those curious silver eyes looked into hers. “Just how often did you talk to Tai about me?” It seemed like a story he was very familiar with, even if it was such as brief exchange.

“Ummm,” a glint of light reflected from her dark locks with a red sheen to it and Raven noted that Summer’s hair did, in fact, have a red sheen to it. Funny, she’d always though it was straight black. It just even out into a slightly lighter shade of it’s mahogany coloring at the ends. “I dunno’, a lot?” Well, that answered that. “Why?”

“Oh,” Raven diverted her eyes from the younger girl. “I just don’t think he’s very fond of me, is all?”

“Is this because of earlier?” There was a heavy silence between the two of them before Summer spoke again. “Don’t let what he says bother you. It’s true that Tai has really been the only one around for me and that he helped me out a lot, but it’s not like I’m going to break. He just thinks I will, if he’s not around.”

“He said he had to rebuild you.” The question hung over the two of them and Raven could almost see Summer mentally fade away. Her bright personality vanished, replaced by a husk of her former self as she likely relived whatever Tai had been referring to. Again, Raven waited for Summer to speak again, but it was the tone that came out that made Raven feel sick. This voice so lifeless compared to the girl she was familiar with. It was the girl from earlier that day – the girl Summer tried so desperately to bury.

“You’re in a hurry to leave, right?” Raven’s heart stopped and she clammed up. She did know. “You don’t have to hide it. I’m sure he’s waiting for you.” Summer pushed her arms away and sat up, looking down with emotionless eyes. “You’re smart and I know you’ve been holding onto every little detail. I can see Darkforge, no matter how small of a creature it is. Don’t keep him waiting.”

“Summer...” Her heart thudded loudly against her chest. What the hell was going on?! Had just that one question done this? Did Summer know about her? What she was doing here? Did she know who _he_ was?! Why was she being so cold, right now? Especially, after the few minutes.

“He’s waiting.”

“Don’t te-,”Raven stopped herself immediately and her heart shattered. Raven may have had her own issues, but she could tell when another person was trying not to break in front of her. She recognized this behavior – trying to push someone away; to get them to leave before everything came crashing down.

The faunus reached toward Summer’s hand, but she batted it away and shot a deathly glare at her. No, she wouldn’t settle for that – not when Summer had gone after her and made sure she was safe... and not if Tai was the other option. She didn’t want him to be. It needed to be her.

Again, she reached out toward her and Summer shrank away, huddling in on herself. Unlike Summer, Raven wasn’t raised to have patience by a group of saintly monks. Instead, she opted for something more straight-to-the-point. Yanking on one of Summer’s legs, she pulled the girl out from her protective huddle. Eyes wide, Summer found herself slamming into Raven’s chest and

He’s waiting. Raven gritted her teeth as recalled the look in Summer’s eyes... She wasn’t referring to the bird. While it had started off with her revealing that she knew about him, Summer’s mind was devolving and she reliving her past... _He_ was whoever had broken Summer and Tai was the one who fixed her. Raven held her more firmly and rest her head on top of Summer’s as she sobbed into her. Whoever _he_ was, Raven would find out and make him pay.

“I won’t ask again,” Raven ran her hands through her hair. “I’ll wait for when you’re ready.”

“But what if I never am?”

“... Then I guess my contact will be waiting for a while...” At the reference to her contact, Summer’s eyes firmed up and she wiped the remaining tears away.

“What if...” Summer sniffled and she eyes regained their usual adamant look. “What if I’m what he’s looking for?”

“What do you know?” Raven’s eyes turned serious. This wasn’t something to joke about. Getting involved with the White Fang was dangerous. Even Raven, was dangerous.

“I’m familiar enough to know Jack Daw when I see him.” Raven’s eyes widened. Was her father one of the people Tai had mentioned earlier?

“How do you know my father?”

“Father?” Summer’s eyes widened. “Oh shit...” Summer visibly panicked. “I... Oh my god, I didn’t know! I’m so sorry! I- what? He’s your dad?!” She pressed her hands to her face. “I should have realized _Raven_ , _Qrow_... You’re bird faunus and those are corvid names! I should have realized he was a Branwen! I just thought he was some asshole mom was involved with!”

“In-involved with?!”

“Noooo, not like that!” Summer fidgetted uneasily. “It’s more like... We’re aware of each other and he hates me because of my mom.” That explained why he avoided her earlier. “He knows I can see him, which is probably why he’s been trying to get your attention from so far away... She could see his Forge too... But he has nothing to do with what happened to me! Honest! If anything, I think he pitied me...”

So, Summer was familiar with her father? And he knew of her? Recently, things had a habit of never ceasing to surprise her and this was definitely one of them. Just, most people who knew of the Branwens, knew they supported the White Fang.

“Still, what did you mean before?” Raven tried to bring the conversation back to Summer’s earlier statement. “That _what if it was you_? Do you know what I’m here for?” Summer looked away uneasily and Raven tilted her head back toward her. “Summer?”

“The Schnee are trying to create something and I’m sure the Fang wants to know what’s going on,” Summer tried to avoid her eyes. “So I’m sure they sent two people from the Branwen family... I’m familiar with your last name.” It just dawned on Raven that her early suspicions had been correct. Summer had been aware of Raven and Qrow’s purpose the whole time, but where Summer was trying to be trusting, Tai must have felt the complete opposite.

“He doesn’t know,” Summer put her worries to rest almost immediately and Raven gave her a questioning glance. “Tai doesn’t pay much attention when it comes to faunus. He figures he doesn’t have to.”

“That sounds like he’s underestimating me,” Raven tried to play it cool, but on the inside she was a complete wreck. She’d been found out.

“Speaking of, he’s probably gonna’ be super worried,” Summer changed the subject. “We have been gone for a kinda’ long time.”

“Well, I did to go get something to eat,” Raven shifted uneasily as she mulled over their conversation.

“That sounds good,” Summer smiled and glanced at her phone. Sighing at the time, she stood up and collected the items from the table. “I’ll walk with you, but I’m probably gonna’ leave you with the guys! Something I get over and done with, so don’t worry.” Summer tried to put her mind at ease over the whole incident. “I’m not reporting you or anything. I don’t want you vanishing on me,” she poked Raven in the nose and the taute-haired girl winced.

“Hey!” Summer offered her a hand and Raven smiled, taking it in her own. When it was like this between them, she felt strangely at ease, like nothing could go wrong. As they walked through the halls, she listened as Summer went on about the kind of meals the school offered. Some days the food was terrible, but other days, apparently today, the food was to die for. The ivory-caped teen virtually drooled as she went on about barbecued chicken and an odd pastry that both sounded sickeningly sweet, but Raven nontheless soaked all of this up like a sponge. She truly did want to know as much as she could about the enigma that she had been partnered with.

“Here we are!” A beep went off on her phone and she away at it, sending a message out. It couldn’t have been Tai. Supposedly, he was in the dining hall, so Summer would have just met him in there. Did she even know anyone else here? “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it. Just don’t get lost!”

“Wait...” Raven paled as a mischevious smirk made it’s way to Summer’s face. She tried to cover it with her phone, but the elation in her eyes gave it away. “Did he tell you?!”

“Whaaaaaat?” Summer whined playfully. “Qrow definitely didn’t tell me that you got lost in the halls and missed dinner the other night. I dunno’ what you’re talking about!”

“Funny how I didn’t mention _any_ of that...”

“You didn’t?” Summer shrugged. “Either way, you coulda’ just asked me! I virtually grew up in this place! I know it like the back  of my hand!” The crimson-tipped girl looked around suspiciously before she cupped a hand around and whispered loudly. “Even some good spots no one else knows about – ya’ know, if you’re trying to find some alone time with a special someone!”

“Ew!” Raven slammed her hands against her ears. Tai! Tai was to blame for this behavior! He had to be the thing that corrupted her with this suggestive humor. Normally, Qrow’s particular brand of humor would be to blame, but he’d actually been behaving himself since they arrived... A trap – that’s what Summer Rose was – a trap! Designed to look warm and inviting, but now that she had been reeled in by her kindness, she had slowly been revealing herself to be a lecherous fiend... and it was definitely the monk’s influence! “I have no intention of using such places!”

“Drat!” The caped girl snapped a finger to emphasize her sarcastic disappointment. “And here I was hoping it might be me!”

“What!”

“Ah, not so loud!” The engineering student waved her arms in a hushing manner. “I’m only kidding...” Breathing a sigh of relief, Raven’s shoulders relaxed until a whimsical look developed in her deviant of a partner’s eye. “Or am I?”

“Summer!”

“Aaaah, go find you some food,” the shorter girl spun herself around with an exaggerated swing of her leg and darted away, waving at her. “You’re not you when you’re hangry!!!” ... Did she just quote the Snackers commercial...

Rolling her eyes, Raven walked through the grand double doors. This entire establishment reaked of elegance, despite its true purpose in molding those who would eventually slay individuals like herself. As she entire, she took in the long tables and the large chandelier that adorned the ceiling. Large windows and doors, dressed in expensive looking drappery opened the room up a bit more, adding the extra view of the outdoor seating, protected by the glow of Beacon’s iconic UV system. They really did try their best.

State-of-the art, it cast a UV haze around an area within it’s range. The problem though was that it was incredibly expensive to maintain all night and could not soak up enough of the sun’s light to remain on. The other bad part was that if someone like, say Raven, that wasn’t crippled by UV rays, snuck in, they could take it out from within and let all manner of darkness run rampant. That was why Beacon’s fencing had been design as well. After dinner hours, the haze was shut down and the fence system went up. A crosshatched system of light and silver-coated titanium bars would replace the haze the moment it went down and all of Beacon’s students could sleep safely at night.

 “Where’ve you been?” The corvid’s male counterpart greeted her, voice full of concern with how long she had been gone.

“Out lezzing around on us, no doubt!” Tai fake pouted as he joined, earning a glare from Raven. This was exactly the kind of behavior that had tainted her apparently _very_ impressionable partner.

“Hey, that’s my sister you’re talking about!” Qrow barked and Tai picked at his ear. “You can make those jokes at Summer, but leave my baby sister out of this!”

“Baby?” Raven looked at him incredulously. “I’m older by a few minutes!”

“Nope,” Qrow latched onto her and glared at Tai. “Not today, you’re no- have you been crying?!” She looked down noticed the giant glaring wet spot Summer had left against her kimono and sighed. “Who made you cry?!”

“Ugh, no one!” She rolled her eyes at his exaggerated worries. “It’s fine. Summer just... had a moment.”

“Where _is_ Summer?” Tai looked at her accusingly. “Did you do something?”

“Why do you assume I did something?” Raven growled in contest. He had really been grating on her last nerve since he found out she actually existed. “If you have something to say, say it!”

“I don’t know you,” Tai hissed. “I don’t know what you do when you’re by yourself and Summer certainly keeps quiet about how she spends her time with you!” If looked could burn, she was certain that he would have set her on fire, but oddly she wasn’t put off by this. If anything, she felt inspired not to back down.

“You can throw a tantrum all night, if you want,” she jabbed at him. “Or you can accept that Summer wants new people in her life. That’s all it is.”

Thinking back on it, she had spent several nights walking around the school with Summer. The purpose was to familiarize herself with her surroundings. Today had been the first time that anything like what Tai was probably imagining had happened... and it wasn’t even like whatever scenario he had concocted... right? Summer was lonely and needed support... and Raven was the only one feeling anything... Shit...

Feeling... the word echoed in her mind on repeated as she zoned out of whatever rant he was on. An old saying was that the first step is ackowledging you have a problem, and Summer was her problem. Not necessarily a _problem_ herself, but the emotions she caused within Raven. As Tai continued on, Raven sighed as she tried to sort through her thoughts. What was it that she feeling? A sudden jab to her side sucked her out of her thoughts and Qrow looked at her with concern.

“I’ll tell you later,” she shook her head.

“Are you listening to me?” Tai eyed her.

“Yo, Tai,” Qrow tried to calm him. “It’s not that serious. Rae, where _is_ Summer, though? I thought she’d pop up for dinner, at least.”

“Um, she got a text right before I came in and said she had to go somewhere and she’d be back later.”

“Oh,” Tai immediately calmed down, though he seemed sad. “I see. They must have /changed things last minute... We should eat, then. I’ll grab her something for later. It’s gonna’ be a long night for you two...”

**ooOOoo**

“Well, you’re both in better moods,” Qrow said with his arms crossed behind his head as the triad walked down the hall to their room.

“I guess Raven’s snippy when she’s hungry?”

“Really?” Raven hissed. “You two, as well?!”

“As well?” Tai said curiously.

“Summer used that damn Snackers motto on me earlier,” Raven crossed her arms as they approached the door to their room. Tai fished out the keys to unlock the door and inserted the key.

“The ‘Y _ou’re not you’_ thing? Well, I’d say she was pretty spot on,” he grinned as he twisted the knob. “Hunny, we’re hoooo~me!” He sang out happily, but there was no reply. His smiled dropped into a concerned expression and his brow furrowed. “Huh, I guess she’s not back yet...”

“It’s been a while,” Raven mumbled. “Where did she go?” Summer made it sound like she wouldn’t be gone for very long. Did she maybe try to get something to eat last minute? Tai had brought something back with him, anyway.

“She’ll be back soon,” Tai’s voice was almost a whisper. In his hand, he held something that looked like a small white business card and he grimaced. Quickly tapping away at his phone, his drawer popped open and he grabbed a small bag. Sitting it on his bed, he fished out a pair of clothes from his drawer that he placed in the bag and any other other necessities for an overnight trip. He then then lazily collapsed onto his bed and popped a book open.

Just beyond his book, he could see the twins staring at him, despite his effort to ignore them. To aid in his effort, he lifted the book up enough to hide them from his view, but he could still feel their eyes. Shuddering, he lowered his book just enough to take a peek and scooted back with a shout.

“Jesus Christ!” What were they? Ninjas?! Between the time it took for him to bury himself in his book and peek at them, they had soundlessly crossed the room and both been mere inches from him. No part of him had expected the information-starved twins to be at such close proximity.

“ _He_ won’t help you,” Raven said in a low voice.

“I thought you were like a Chinese monk or something,” cheek pressed against his sister’s, Qrow added to the already threatening vibe.

“They’re called Buddhists,” Raven tilted her head enough to correct him, but her eyes never left their blue-eyed target .

“Eh,” Qrow ruined the dangerous atmosphere. “Same thing – one letter off in the alphabet.” She rolled her eyes at him and planted a hand on her hip, looking at the blonde expectantly.

“I don’t really care about our teachings,” Tai lamented. “I just practice the martial arts.”

“Aren’t you supposed to inherit the shrine or something?” Her eyes glowered at him. How could they both be so different, yet both be the next heads of their families? “Summer mentioned it the other day.”

“Yeah,” the blonde shrugged. “It’s just not something I’m passionate about.”

“Well, what _are_ you passionate about?” His carefree manner was really starting to aggravate her.

“I think all three of us know the answer to that,” he licked the tip of his finger and turned the page. Tucking his arm back under his head, he remained engrossed in whatever contents the book contained.

“Dammit,” the raveness seized his wrist and lowered it from his view. “For once, can you actually act like you’re invested in a conversation!”

“Why would I do that? I’m terrible at acting,” he quirked a brow and smirked. “Especially, when I’m not interested.”

“You’re incredibly infuriating!”

“Gotta’ keep the ladies interested somehow,” he shot a pair of finger guns at her and she screamed internally. Before she could maul the golden boy, Qrow wrapped his arms under hers and restrained her. If one thing was certain, Tai excelled at pushing Raven’s buttons. “On a serious note though, I need you guys to keep an eye on Summer tonight.” Without looking up to meet their bewildered expressions, he pretended to read. Lost in his own thoughts, he had been on the same page for most of the conversation. “She’ll be back any minute and probably super tired, but don’t worry. No matter how bad it looks, she’s fine and will be back to normal by the morning.”

As if on cue, the doorknob twisted and the door opened with a light push. A young man in a white business suit and black tie walked in with a sickly pale Summer on his arm. Leaning into him, she pressed her head against his arm and gasped for air. He gave her a moment to regain her bearings, but after a tense moment, she didn’t appear to recover.

Steadying her, the young man crouched down partially and gently lifted her. At first, some fight crossed her eyes and she appeared to want to say something, but whatever energy she had tried to muster slipped away just as quickly as it had came. She let herself fall limp in his arms and continued to gasp for air.

“Really, Miss Rose, I don’t understand why you don’t just stay overnight,” he said as he let her slide onto her bed. He slicked back his alabaster comb-over, locked his hands behind his back, and puffed out his chest.

“You wouldn’t... understand, Jacques,” she spoke faintly as she gasped mid-sentence and placed a hand over her eyes. “It’s so bright.”

“Father doesn’t understand either,” the regal boy frowned. “One of these days, you will be required to.” He turned his attention to Tai. “Xiao Long, do try to convince her.”

“No can do, Schnee,” Tai finally closed his book and sat up, slinging his rucksack over his shoulder. “She’s a free spirit! Ya’ already got her on a collar. You gonna’ put her in a cage, too?”

“No, no,” Jacques waved his hands at the accusation, breaking his feigned superiority. “I wouldn’t dream of it!... Father, on the other hand... well...”

“Well?” Tai wore a fox-like smile and Jacques paled as the blonde towered over him and leaned in closer.

“Who’s going to take care of her?” Jacques tightened his tie. “Normally, you’re around, but you’ll be staying overnight. Who does that leave her with?” The young man snapped as blood rushed to his cheeks. “I don’t want her in any danger!”

“Aw, you do care! I’m so glad you asked,” Tai wrapped his arms around the twins’ shoulders and pulled them in close. “These two lucky devils!”

“What?” Raven twisted around in his arm. “We never agreed to-“

“Just think of it as another opportunity for you two to hang out without me!” Tai said in an passive aggressive manner. “You know, since you’re childhood friends and all!” ... Was that... jealousy???

“I don’t recognize these two,” the Schnee eyed them up and down. “Who are they?... and why are their eyes red?”

“Oh, them?” Tai grinned mischievously. “Ninjas! Suuuuuper sneaky-like! I trust ‘em! They’re bird Faunus.”

“Faunus?!” Jacques screeched. “When did the two of you get Faunus as partners?! They don’t look like Faunus.”

“Excuse me?!” Raven glared at him and he shrank back.

“Heeey, sis,” standing in front of her, Qrow blocked her path toward the young Schnee. “I think everyone’s just getting off on a bad foot today!” He turned his head to look at the two men. “I’ll calm her down and take care of Summer, if that’ll give you reassurance. She’s safe with me. Is there anything I should know?”

Glancing at the girl in question, Raven calmed herself when she caught sight of her. Chest rising and falling in a labored attempt to gather oxygen, her partner didn’t look like she was doing well. Putting her anger aside, she moved past Qrow and his eyes followed her as she ventured over to their teammate. Shivering uncontrollably, Summer had curled in on herself and tried to wrap herself in her cloak for warmth. The avian crouched next to her and mumbled something just loud enough for Summer to hear and she nodded.

“Qrow,” the first-born twin called her brother’s name and he responded by meeting her eyes. “Would you get her some water? Room temp.”

“Uh,” he cocked his head curiously. “Sure.” He ventured out into the hall in a halfway daze of confusion. When had she started looking at Summer like that? That must have been why Tai was being so hostile today...

“Summer,” she placed her hand on her leader’s head and cheeks. “You’re ice cold.”

“D-do you need me?” Tai asked, his voice saturated with concern. “I can-.”

“N-no,” Summer’s teeth chattered. “I-I’ll b-be fine. G-go.”

“But-“

“Go!” She glared at him and his shoulders sank.

“O...kay,” the blonde moped his way out the door and Jacques gave one last look to her before he joined him.

“You have my number, Summer,” the Schnee said. “Call me, if you need anything and you will have it.” Raven quirked a brow at his word choice. What was his relationship with Summer? This certainly wasn’t how she expected him to act toward someone of a lesser standing. His behavior toward Qrow and herself was expected, but not the familiarity with their partners - especially hers. An unexpected shiver broke Raven’s concentration and she focused on Summer, once again.

“This cloak isn’t enough, Summer,” Raven observed the material. Despite the quality, it wasn’t designed to act as a blanket. “We need to get you warm. Do you have anything you can change into?” Her partner nodded and brought up her phone. Shivering, she tapped away on the screen and the drawer popped open.

“A-all the way on the l-left.” Raven pulled out a white long-sleeved hoody and some warm looking jogger sweatpants. A silver case fell from them and Raven picked it up, but Summer grabbed the other side and their eyes met. “It’s medicine.”

“Then shouldn’t you take it?” Raven went to open it, but Summer pulled down on it.

“It’s not for this,” Summer looked away, but her temperature got the better of her and her hand fell faintly. Looking at the case, she was tempted to open it, but Summer was a chance at possibly getting closer to the Schnee. She could add this to her growing list of things she wanted to know, but for now, she needed to focus onSummer’s condition. Pushing aside her curiosity, she put the case back into her drawer. “Thank you.”

Thin fingers brushed against her hand and Raven found herself self relishing the soft touch, almost missing the small shivers that coursed through Summer’s body. Words almost slipped from her tongue, but she was far too ensnared by sickly girl’s eyes. Eyes that held a warmth the rest of her body did not share. Eyes that said more than her words had: Thank you (for not asking).

Raven returned the gesture, lightly touching her fingertips against the frail girl’s. The avian traced along Summer’s fingers up to the back of her hand and Summer blinked slowly with another shiver. This time, Raven couldn’t tell whether it was a reaction to their contact or her ailment, but their eyes met once more. Other than the coolness of her skin, Summer didn’t feel any different from what she was used to with other Faunus. Her skin was just as soft, her hair had the same sheen, and her heart beat the same. The only differences were in their individual stories.

“You’re so warm.” Ah! The clothes! Raven snapped from her trance and pulled her hand away, eliciting a whimper from the bedridden girl.

“I need you to stand up,” Raven stood and placed the clothes on the bed. “We need to get you changed.”

“Heh heh,” a light chuckle came from Summer as she weakly propped herself up. “It feels like it was just a few days ago I was telling you to strip.” Raven deadpanned at her.

“You can freeze on your own!” Raven shrieked and turned to storm away, but Summer virtually fell out of the bed, clinging onto her. “Watch out! You’re going to hurt yourself!”

“Owwww,” Summer rubbed her nose and Raven helped her up, leaving her hands supporting the human girl’s sides. An intoxicated look enveloped Summer and she suddenly leaned into her, wrapping her arms around the edgier girl and relaxed. Unsure of what to do, Raven stiffened and panicked. “You know, I’m glad you’ve opened up more. I like this side of you,” the sickly team leader nuzzled into her. “You really are warm... even if you’re kinda’ cold sometimes.”

“I...” Summer smiled as Raven’s heartbeat quickened, but she chose to stay silent. At least she was being considerate. Raven felt like she would die if it got pointed out. Still, if she was feeling warmer, she could put up with the strange feeling. It wasn’t entirely unwelcome, but it was just... She shook the thoughts away. Right now, she needed to be concerned with her partner’s well-being. Raven mimicked Summer, circling her arms around her in a light hold and letting her rest against her. “Did something happen?”

“You don’t have to worry,” Summer’s voice was soft and tired. “This won’t happen very often.”

“But it’ll happen again?” Summer nodded lightly against her, listening to her heartbeat even out methodically. “That was Jacques Schnee...” Again, Summer nodded. “Is he hurting you?”

“It’s not like that,” the weakness still carried through her voice, but Summer pushed away enough to look her in the eyes. “I’m valuable to them and it’s something they can only get from me. I’m an asset they would do anything to keep their hold on. I’m not even allowed off-base without special permission. I don’t just go to school here, Raven. I live at Beacon. This is my home. Tai’s too.”

“And he’s okay with this happening to you?”

“...”

“Summer...”

“No,” Summer shifted uneasily and cast her eyes downward. “He normally takes care of me, but I can’t be a burden to him forever. I can’t always expect him to be there. One day, he’ll have a life without me – one where he doesn’t have to do this anymore. I don’t want him to wait til he’s an adult to live.”

“So you’re burdening me instead?” Attempting to lighten the mood, Raven smirked as she spoke. Unfortunately, Summer didn’t find it as humorous as she did and she pushed away.

“I didn’t ask for you- uoouoof - what are you doing?” The collar of her cloak muffled her voice as it came over her head.

“Helping you get changed,” Raven said casually. For someone who had spazzed out over partial nudity only days ago, she was rather nonchalant about this. “What else?”

“I-I didn’t ask,” the frail girl wrapped her arms around herself as the air hit her. Raven started to unbutton her blazer and pulled it from her. “I can do this myself.”

“Then do it,” Raven shrugged and Summer stared at her awkwardly.

“T-turn around!”

“Really?” Summer gave her an adamant look and Raven spun around, throwing her hands up. Raven crossed her arms and mumbled to herself. “...it’s no different from what you made me do...”

“I know, I just...” A ruffling sound came from behind her, followed by the sound of clothing piling in a heap. “It’s different with you.”

“How so?”

“I can’t really explain it,” Summer’s voice was unsure. “It’s just embarassing.”

“I see,” Raven began to fiddle with her gauntlets, removing them and absently casting them onto her bed. “Are you also this way with Tai?”

“What? Tai?” Summer scoffed at the idea. “Psh, no way! No reason to be!”

“He’s a _guy_!” Suddenly spun around, Raven was in her face and Summer held her shirt closely to cover herself. “How can you _not_ be conscious to that?!”

“Well, what about you?” Summer bit back. “You have a brother.”

“Yeah, but he’s my _actual_ brother,” Raven tried to explain. “And he’s _still_ a guy. I don’t change in front of him.”

“Well,” Summer blushed at the close proximity between their faces. “You got kinda’ awkward about the the shower thing the other day. It’s only normal, right?” Raven’s eyes widened as she recalled that incident. That wasn’t the problem. “To be self-conscious...”

“That’s not it...” Looking away, Raven backed off a bit and turned around to let Summer finish dressing. “I mean, it is, but it’s not.”

“What do you mean?” A light pressure came against the Faunus’ back and her heart fluttered as Summer leaned her head between her shoulders.

“I’m not much for skinship,” Raven suddenly relented. Why did she find it so easy to open up to this girl?

“Oh,” Summer’s betrayed her disappointment, but rather than continue to make things uncomfortable for her partner, she pulled away. “Sorry.”

“No!” The team leader was surprised at the outburst, but even moreso by the sudden grasp that enveloped her wrist. It seemed desperate – fragile even, which wasn’t exactly how Summer would have described her new partner, but she’d happily indulge her. After all, she was taking care of her in Tai’s stead. Still, she was confused by the sudden change in character. Didn’t she not want her to touch her? “You don’t have to stop.” No, maybe it wasn’t fragility. “I... was just... overstimulated! It’s unfamiliar.”

“Affection?” That’s what this was. With a single word, Summer managed to get a glimpse into Raven’s home life and now she realized why she was so drawn toward her. Even back when they first met, Raven was uncomfortable with their close proximity, but she had chalked it up to them being strangers. Now, they were technically still strangers, but Raven was making an effort to let her in, despite her uneasiness... and Summer had unknowingly forced this same sort of skinship on her earlier.

The avian shifted herself in Summer’s arms to face her, revealing an embarassingly flushed face. At first, she denied meeting her eyes, but she stole a glance to be sure that Summer wasn’t laughing at her... To which caused Summer to give a small laugh. It was interesting for her to see the shy side of her usually stoic teammate, and even more when she broke from her shell, but this was something that Summer was taking a strange pleasure in. This was something that belonged to her. A side that Raven only let out when they were alone. No brothers, no partners, no friends – just the two of them... but was it really only because of one fateful night a few years ago? She could try to find out. She could act on a whim – indulge the interest she had in the intriguing Faunus, but it wouldn’t be fair to Raven, in the long run.

“Summer?” Those crimson eyes held a mixture of concern. Whether it was toward her sudden silence or her actions, Summer didn’t know, but it was clear that Raven was searching her eyes for an answer. Instead, the silver-eyed girl closed her eyes and buried herself into her. Maybe it would be okay to relish this sort of thing for just a bit.

“I’m cold.” The smaller girl smiled to herself as Raven’s heart slammed against her chest and another thought crossed her mind, but she shoved it into the back of her mind. Raven was learning how to interact with humans. She was nervous. Who was she to assume that her partner was somehow falling for her? Still, it had the same effect as Tai’s heartbeat and she found mind lulling off. She truly enjoyed the way that Raven was holding her, as if she might break, but at this rate, she’d fall asleep in her arms.

“Wh-what?!” Despite her current condition, Summer tackled her darker counterpart onto her bed and snuggled into her. “What are you doing?!”

“This is affection!” Summer rubbed the top of her head into Raven’s chin. In a fit of surprise, Raven tried to fend her off, but was quickly outmaneuvered. “Emerse yourself in the experience!”

“I leave you two alone for 15 minutes and you’re already doing something weird,” Qrow stood across from them with a entertained look on his face.

“This isn’t what it looks like...” Raven said flatly.

“You? Being a girl?” He brought a hand mockingly to his chest and spoke in an uppity voice. “Well, I never!”

“Qrooooow,” she growled from beneath Summer. “Hey, g-get off of... Summer?” She lightly shook her but there was no response. Worried for the girl’s health, she lifted her and rolled her eyes at the sight of her leader softly snoring away. “Help me out.”

With a sly grin, he lifted the white-clad girl from his sister and watched in amusement as she pulled the comforter back. He laid Summer down and Raven pulled the covers over her, tucking them around her to the point she was in a cocoon. The younger twin noted to himself the gentle smile his sister wore as she went to work. It was something only he had ever seen and the rest of the family took a strange pleasure putting down any sort of happiness his sister had ever felt. As good as it was to see this again, was Summer someone he could trust with such a delicate part of his sister? A devilish smile worked across her face. Either way, it was something he could tease her about.

“Pffft.”

“What?!” Raven barked at him.

“Just never expected something so cute to come from you,” he turned his arms in an outward shrug as he teased her. Even the growl he got encouraged his teasing, until she hit him over the head. “Ow! That was a compliment.”

“Somehow, I’m pretty sure it was the direct opposite,” she glared at him knowingly. “Ass!”

“I’m just saying,” he pouted as he rubbed the welt radiating pain from the top of his head. “You never tuck _me_ in!”

“Ugh! I’m trying to keep all her body heat in one place!” How did he not understand that!

“Well, there’s another way you could do that too,” he said slyly, having suddenly recovered from his bout of pain. For a brief moment, a dangerously psychotic look crossed her eyes and he swallowed hard. Maybe it was time to call it quits. “I was kidding!”

“What took you so long?” She snapped at him, crossing her arms expectantly. “It’s not like I asked you to go down to the river with a bucket and pail!”

“You would not _believe_ how hard it is to find room temp _anything_ after hours!” He shrugged, then gave her a wicked grin... He’d sign his own death warrant. It was worth it. “Almost as unbelievable as coming back to my room to find my sister – in the great words of Tai - _lezzing out_ with our human roommate!”

“I will strangle you!” The corvid girl sent him to ground, acquianting him with the carpetted floor, and wrapped her hands around his neck. Her eyes blazed with fury through her bangs, complimenting her already-intimidating aura. “I could end you _so_ easily right now.”

“Well,” he croaked out. “I always pegged you for being into kinky stuff. I just figured you’d save it for – ack,” she squeezed and his voice became garbled as he squeezed out the last word. “Summer!”

“We’re not like that!” Her grip loosened and her eyes widened with panic. “ _I’m_ not like that!”

“Into humans?” Masking his worry, he distracted her from the real problem enough to calm her down. “It doesn’t take a genius to see _that_!” He suddenly regretted teasing her, but if he could turn this around, she wouldn’t panic. When it came to her, panic never left a positive impression, just as Summer had unfortunately witnessed the other night. That officially made it only the two of them that had witnessed her like that. Even the family didn’t know... and that was why he always stayed by her side. They were twins. When she felt pain, so did he... and when she felt love...

“Wait,” she sat up. “You meant the human part...” After a second, it dawned on him that something truly was changing about his sister and he smiled. Two weeks ago, Raven would have almost had an anneurysm if shomeone had accused her of fondness toward a human. He glanced over at Summer and then back to her, watching as the gears turned inside her head.

“You know, I was thinking recently that one day my sister might want to let someone other than me in and I’d have to open up my world to them... Of course, she’d have to do them same when I meet my goddess!” He mused out loud and she held herself with an insecure look. “Would it really be so bad?”

“I know you wouldn’t care if they were human, Qrow...”

“Geez, you really are slow,” he sighed in exhaustion. She really didn’t get what he was trying to say.“As smart as you are, you can be really dense sometimes. I figured you’d be able to tell I don’t care if you have a thing for Summer or not. I just want you to be careful... Cuz then I’ll have to fight Tai and I already can’t read him, so I’m gonna’ have to take a few punches in order to figure him out, and he has the _huge_ muscles! Like, you wouldn’t _believe_! Do we know how he fights yet? Cuz I’m really gonna’ need some tips. Is he like the pole-arm kind of monk? Or like the fists of fury type?”

“Alright, alright! I get it!” She muttered to herself. “But she’s another girl...”

“Oh, how _horrible_ it would be,” Qrow rolled his eyes sarcastically. “If my _twin sister_ shared something else in common with me.” He paused in thought for a moment. “What’s the typical protocol for this kinda’ thing? Isn’t it like say three Hail Mary’s and pray for absolution or some shit?” He grinned at her playfully. “Tai’s not here for me to ask!”

“Ass...” She smiled at him and he laughed. “That’s a different religion and you know it!” It was nice to see her coming to terms with herself, but there was something he decided he should keep in mind. Raven hadn’t quite confirmed his suspicion that she was developing feelings toward their leader... but she also hadn’t denied it... This could either be a good thing or really bad.

“On a serious note,” the humor died out from his voice. “You know I wouldn’t care, right?” Raven lifted her eyes to meet his. “I only have one sister and I’m not about to disown her for something like that. That’d make me a hypocrit...” He smiled warmly at her and she relaxed. “I’m not here to judge – just to make sure you’re happy. So like I said, if it’s Summer, I’ll be okay with it... Just, no noises!”

“Ew, and why do you keep assuming that it’s Summer?” She cocked her head to the side curiously. “I haven’t even been around her long enough to determine that! Can’t I just have a female friend?”

“You don’t have to see the way you two look at each other from the outside,” Qrow shrugged. “Tai and I do.”

“Tai?” She heart skipped for a moment and her stomach sank. Was that why he made his earlier comment? It wasn’t like she was completely ignorant to romance. He obviously held something toward Summer, but Raven thought that he just wasn’t comfortable with someone else being close to Summer. He generally seemed okay with literally anything Summer did.

“Yeah, why?” Qrow’s eyes drifted to hers and he sat up. “Did he do something?”

“No, it’s just,” she paused to articualte her thoughts. “I thought for a moment that my having met Summer previously made him uncomfortable.”

“It probably does,” Qrow acknowledged. “Not gonna’ lie. I kinda’ feel that way too. It’s always been you and me, just like I’m sure it’s always been them. The two of you have been spending a lot of time together, like when you disappeared after we got back and didn’t come back ‘til dinner.”

“But you guys knew about what she was making for us.”

“Did you _have_ to go?” He gave her a curious look. “Or did you just want to be there?”

“I,” she considered her answer before she responded. Realistically, she knew nothing about what Summer was doing. There wouldn’t have been anything she could do to help. “I wanted to be there...” He gave her a skeptical look.

“Yep, well, ‘til you figure out that you’re in denial, we can check girls out together!” He declared emphatically as he threw his arm around her shoulder. “You can be my wingman!”

“Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you!”

“Wing _woman_?” She smashed a pillow into his face and he ripped it away with a grin. “What! I’m just sayin’, do you realize that twins are like the ultimate aphrodesiac?!”

“LALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

“JUST LADIES! EVERYWHERE! SPREAD EAGLE!”

“I’VE HAD IT WITH YOU AND THE BIRD PUNS!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw, isn’t Qrow sweet lullz. I guess this chapter serves more to provide that there is something going on behind the scenes with Tai/Summer and the Schnee. Raven’s figuring out she has a thing for Summer. Summer has something serious in her past, something going on with the Schnee, and apparently knows the twins’ dad for some reason. So yeah, um I had to skip the fight scene this chapter and move it to the next one. I generally shoot for about 4.5–7K words per chapter. Before the split and scene re-writes, I was somewhere around 15K... soooo, yeah. That’s 2 to 3x my average... Anyway, next time, you get to find out a bit about what’s up with Summer and the Rose bloodline.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I think I’ll have a lot of fun with writing Raven as I go. Anyway, the next chapter fast forwards to a few years after this!


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